^fSj 


ENGLISH  WORDS 


AN 


ELEMENTARY  STUDY  OF  DERIVATIONS 


CHARLES  F.  JOHNSON 

PROFESSOR   OF   ENGLISH    LITERATURE,  TRINITY 
COLLEGE^  HARTFORD 


NEW    YORK 

HARPER   &    BROTHERS,   FRANKLIN    SQUARE 

189I 


Copyright,  1891,  by  Harper  &  Brothers. 

All  rights  reserved. 


PREFACE. 


This  book  is  written  primarily  for  use  as  a  text- 
book in  high-schools  and  colleges.  Its  object  is 
to  call  attention  to  the  literary  values  of  words  as 
far  as  can  be  done  in  a  brief  examination  of  deriva- 
tions. It  is  hoped,  therefore,  that  it  may  not  be 
without  interest  for  that  large  class  who,  though 
in  no  sense  specialists,  take  an  interest  in  the  his- 
tory of  words,  and  that  some  young  men  may  be 
prompted  by  it  to  take  up  the  study  of  our  lan- 
guage seriously. 
\  My  acknowledgments  are  due  to  Messrs.  G.  P. 
^  Putnam's  Sons  for  permission  to  insert  the  tables 
'  of  Latin  and  English  derivatives  from  Professor 
^Marsh's  lectures,  and  to  the  Open  Court  Publish- 
ing Company  of  Chicago  for  permission  to  make 
some  extracts  from  'Max  Miiller's  latest  lectures. 

To   my  colleague,  Dr.  Samuel   Hart,  I  am  in- 
debted for  many  valuable  suggestions. 

Professor  Skeat  has  been  relied  on  as  an  au- 
thority in  etymology. 

C.  F.  J. 

Tri.mty  College,  Hartford,/?//)' 27,  i8gi. 


CONTENTS, 


CHAP.  PAGE 

I.    THE   IMPORTANXE   OF   LANGUAGE I 

II.    THE  RELATIONSHIP  OF  THE   ENGLISH   LANGUAGE  I3 

III.  NATURE   AND    PROOF    OF    LINGUISTIC    RELATION- 

SHIP      23 

IV.  SOURCES    OF    MODERN    ENGLISH    WORDS      ...  36 
V.    ENGLISH    WORDS    DERIVED    FROM    CELTIC        .       .  46 

VI.    CLASSES    OF    LATIN    DERIVATIVES 5G 

VII.    ARTIFICIAL     CHARACTER     nF     THE     LATIN     ELE- 
MENT           63 

VIII.    LITERARV    CHARACTER     nV    THE    LATIN     DERIV- 
ATIVES       Si 

IX.    MINOR    SOURCES    OF    ENGLISH    WORDS          .       .       .  gG 

X.    METHOD    OF    THE    WORD-FORMING    INSTINCT        .  II3 

XI.    GROUPS    OF    WORDS    WITH    A    COMMON    ROOT        .  I2g 

XII.    ERRONEOUS    DKRIVATl'lNS I40 

XIII.  ODD    AND    DISGI'ISED    DERIVATIONS        ....  I55 

XIV.  GEOGRAPHICAL    NAMES 1 70 

XV.    SURNAMES          I(}4 

X\I.    WORDS    OF    THE    PROFESSIONS    AND    TRADES         .  2l6 

ADDITIONAL    WORDS    FOR    ILLUSTR.VTION         .       .  244 

INDEX    OF    3Ui;jECTS 249 

INDEX  OF  WORDS  AND  EXPRESSIONS   EXPLAINED  2^2 


Digitized  by  tine  Internet  Arclnive 

in  2007  with  funding  from 

IVIicrosoft  Corporation 


lnttp://www.arcliive.org/details/englishwordselemOOjoliniala 


ENGLISH    WORDS. 


CHAPTER  I. 

THE  IMPORTANCE  OF  LANGUAGE. 

We  find  ourselves  in  possession  of  a  very  com- 
plicated and  delicate  instrument  which  we  are 
constantly  using  even  when  w^e  are  asleep.  It  is 
called  language,  and  the  first  fifteen  or  twenty 
years  of  our  lives  are  spent  in  learning  to  use  it 
in  a  very  feeble  and  imperfect  way.  If  any  edu- 
cational process  goes  on  during  the  rest  of  our 
lives,  its  result  is  shown  principally  in  increased 
readiness  and  dexterity  in  the  use  of  language. 
Language,  indeed,  is  so  closely  related  to  char- 
acter that,  setting  moral  distinctions  aside,  the 
manner  of  using  it  is  what  chiefly  distinguishes  one 
man  from  another,  and  the  power  of  acquiring  it 
is  what  distinguishes  a  man  from  a  beast.  We 
naturally  use  the  word  "  dumb  "  as  a  synonym  for 
stupid,  and  when  we  say  "dumb  beast"  we  in- 


2  ENGLISH    WORDS. 

stinctively  refer  to  our  belief  that  the  power  of 
speech  implies  what  we  call  reason.  Homer  calls 
the  human  race  "articulately-speaking  "  or  "  'word- 
cUviding'  mortals."  The  later  Greek  philosophers, 
with  a  sense  that  the  two  things  were  closely  re- 
lated, used  the  word  iogos  for  both  speech  and 
reason. 

In  the  proposition  that  the  manner  of  express- 
ing thought  in  words  or  language  is  the  criterion  of 
intellectual  character,  we  must  be  careful  to  note 
that  the  term  "words  or  language"  has  an  extend- 
ed meaning,  for  deaf  and  dumb  men  who  cannot 
use  or  hear  vocal  sounds  at  all  are  as  certainly 
intellectual  beings  as  are  the  readiest  and  most 
fluent  talkers.  When  we  say  that  the  language- 
power  is  the  mark  of  a  man,  we  do  not  mean  the 
power  of  vocal  utterance,  but  the  power  of  at- 
taching any  note  or  mark  to  an  idea  in  the  mind, 
whether  that  note  be  a  sound,  or  a  gesture,  or  a 
scratch  on  paper.  In  that  broad  sense  deaf  and 
dumb  people  use  language  as  truly  as  do  talkers. 
Even  those  unfortunates  who  are  deaf,  dumb,  and 
blind  can,  after  infinite  pains,  be  given  a  language 
through  the  sense  of  touch.  The  fact  that  until 
this  is  done  their  minds  remain  absolutely  isolat- 
ed and  powerless  to  form  an  idea,  is  a  proof  of 
the  intimate  connection  between  thought  and  the 
means  of  expressing  it.  Until  Dr.  Howe  gave  the 
girl  Laura  Dewey  Bridgman  an  equivalent  for  a 


THE    IMPORTANCE   OF    LANGUAGE.  3 

word,  she  dwelt  in  blackness  and  remoteness,  sub- 
stantially without  the  power  of  thought.  This  may 
give  us  some  idea  of  the  immense  importance  of 
vocal  words,  since  even  an  imperfect  substitute 
for  them  can  produce  the  difference  between  ra- 
tionality and  apparent  idiocy. 

Again,  the  second  proposition  contained  in  the 
first  paragraph,  that  the  power  of  language  is  the 
criterion  of  human  beings  as  distinguished  from 
brutes,  implies  another  restriction  of  the  usual 
meaning  of  the  phrase,  "  the  power  of  language." 
For  beasts  possess  a  certain  kind  of  language- 
power  in  great  perfection.  Their  calls  of  affection 
or  warning  to  their  young,  and  their  notes  of  de- 
fiance, or  rage,  or  pain,  are  very  emphatic  and  ex- 
pressive, and  are  readily  understood  even  by  men. 
But  the  call  of  the  mother -bird,  or  the  growl  of 
a  dog,  is  not  language  in  the  scientific  sense. 
These  sounds  all  express  emotion,  or  are  the  phys- 
ical counterparts  of  certain  feelings.  They  are  of 
the  same  character  as  interjections,  like  "Oh,"  or 
"  Pshaw,"  are  not  in  essential  nature  different  from 
a  sigh  or  a  groan,  and  are  no  more  like  real  lan- 
guage than  is  the  creaking  of  machinery  for  lack 
of  oil.  It  is  words  as  the  sign  of  thought,  not 
words  as  the  outcome  of  feeling,  that  is  meant 
when  we  sa}^,  "  No  beast  has  the  power  of  lan- 
guage." Professor  Whitney  says  {Study  of  Lan- 
guage, Lect.  xii.)  :  "The  essential  characteristic  of 


4  ENGLISH    WORDS. 

our  speech  is  that  it  is  arbitrary  and  conventional ; 
that  of  animals,  on  the  other  hand,  is  natural  and 
instinctive ;  the  former  is,  therefore,  capable  of 
indefinite  growth,  change,  and  development ;  the 
latter  is  unvarying,  and  cannot  transcend  its  orig- 
inal narrow  limits." 

The  language  which  is  the  mark  of  humanity 
consists  of  vocal  sounds,  or  their  equivalent,  at- 
tached to  mental  concepts.  Some  philosophers 
hold  that  without  the  power  of  forming  the  sound, 
or  some  equivalent,  physical,  correlated  sign,  that 
we  could  not  even  form  the  concept.  However 
this  may  be,  whether  it  is  true  that  "without 
thought  no  language  is  possible,"  or  "without 
language  no  thought  is  possible,"  it  is  certain  that 
without  lanafuaofe  there  could  b3  no  communica- 
tion  of  thought,  and,  consequenth',  no  civilization 
and  no  individual  development.  The  question 
whether  language  or  thought  is  the  primary  power 
is  at  best  a  metaphysical  one.  The  two  powers 
are  certainly  necessary  to  each  other,  and  there  is 
a  quality  in  one  or  both  which  distinguishes  man 
from  the  beasts.  Whether  we  regard  this  quality 
as  a  radical  or  an  acquired  one  will  depend  our 
fundamental  philosophical  notions.  To  the  writer 
it  seems  a  radical  quality.  It  may  be  instanced 
that  the  power  of  making  vocal  sounds,  and  of  at- 
taching them  to  certain  concepts,  appears  in  in- 
fants with  the  first  ray  of  consciousness,  and  that 


THE  IMPORTANCE  OF  LANGUAGE.        5 

the  growth  of  the  power  is  commensurate  with 
the  growth  of  consciousness.  Furthermore,  men 
have  been  talking  to  horses  and  dogs  for  at  least 
eight  thousand  years,  but  neither  of  those  races 
has  made  the  slightest  progress  towards  acquiring 
a  language.  Man,  therefore,  may  be  defined  as 
the  animal  who  had  originally  the  power  of  de- 
veloping a  language,  or  as  the  animal  who  has 
developed  a  language. 

Since  language  is  so  closely  connected  with 
human  thought,  even  if  not  absolutely  necessary 
to  it,  we  can  readily  see  how  important  the  study 
of  words  may  become.  We  cannot  get  hold  of  a 
new  thought  without  learning  some  new  words,  or 
at  least  adding  something  to  the  notions  grouped 
about  the  word  we  already  know,  and  so  enrich- 
ing and  rounding  out  our  instinctive  knowledge. 
On  the  other  hand,  to  learn  something  about  a 
word  —  a  thought-implement  —  ought  to  enlarge 
our  thought- power  by  making  us  more  familiar 
with  the  implement. 

From  another  point  of  view,  the  study  of  words 
has  a  different  and  perhaps  a  greater  value.  It 
increases  our  power  of  enjoyment  and  our  sense 
of  relation  to  our  fellows.  The  beauty  of  imag- 
inative literature  depends  to  a  great  degree  on  the 
associations  called  up  by  particular  words.  The 
use  of  a  word  rich  in  associations  in  such  a  man- 
ner as  to  bring  out  those  associations  constitutes 


6  ENGLISH    WORDS. 

poetic  form  far  more  than  does  rhyme,  or  the  rhyth- 
mical arrangement  of  accent.  These  associations 
— the  intimate  and  poetic  meaning  of  the  word — 
depend  to  some  degree  on  the  history  and  origin  of 
the  word.  If  the  study  of  words  increases,  though 
sHghtly,  our  capacity  for  artistic  enjoyment,  or  even 
for  rational  intellectual  enjoyment,  no  further  ar- 
gument for  its  importance  is  needed.  Indeed,  all 
others  may  be  overlooked. 

From  the  intimate  relations  between  language 
and  thought,  from  the  fact  that  language  is  a  so- 
cial product,  and  the  further  fact  that  ruling  ideas 
and  methods  change  from  one  generation  to  anoth- 
er, it  is  evident  that  language  must  change  also. 
Entirely  new  meanings  are  given  to  words  in  the 
course  of  time,  and  sometimes  new  words  are 
coined  which  after  a  while  come  into  general  use. 
Again,  many  discoveries  of  new  processes  or  in- 
ventions of  new  devices  are  made  in  physical 
science,  for  which  new  words  must  be  found.* 
That  very  delicate  characteristic,  the  flavor  or  lit- 
erary value  of  words,  changes  from  century  to  cen- 
tury, even  if  the  meanings  do  not  change.  Some 
words  lose  caste,  others  are  promoted  into  good 

*  The  vocabul.iry  of  the  modern  science  of  Zoology  is 
said  by  the  author  of  the  Introduction  to  the  Century 
Dictiona7y  to  reach  llie  enormous  total  of  100,000  words, 
60,000  of  which  are  in  use  in  books  at  present.  Probably 
not  more  than  two  hundred  of  them  are  in  general  use. 


THE  IMPORTANCE  OF  LANGUAGE.       7 

society.  Language  is  therefore  ia  a  continual 
state  of  change  from  the  action  of  several  forces. 
Old  words  are  dropping  out  and  coming  under  the 
class  marked  ''  obsolete  "  in  our  dictionaries.  New- 
words  are  appearing,  and,  most  important  of  all,* 
new  meanings,  sometimes  fuller,  sometimes  more 
restricted,  are  slowly  attaching  themselves  to  the 
old  words  which  are  retained.  If  the  language 
were  not  written,  the  words  of  one  generation 
would  not  only  convey  entirely  different  ideas  to 
the  next,  but  they  would  hardly  be  intelligible  to 
it,  for  pronunciation  changes  even  more  rapidly 
than  meanings.  If  any  body  of  men  is  isolated, 
thei*-  speech  soon  becomes  a  dialect,  and  before 
many  years  possibly  a  new  language.  It  is  thus 
that  French,  Spanish,  Portuguese,  and  Provencal 
grew  out  of  the  old  Roman  speech,  as  it  displaced 
the  languages  of  the  conquered  countries.  There- 
fore it  is  usual  to  say  that  language  is  an  evolu- 
tion— that  is,  a  product  whose  growth  is  predeter- 
mined and  regulated  by  certain  laws. 

But  language  is  an  evolution  in  a  restricted 
sense,  since  it  follows  the  evolution  of  a  nation — 
or  its  growth  in  civilization — at  a  distance,  and 
may  borrow  much  more  or  much  less  from  some 


*  Compare, for  instance,  tlie  words  "freedom,"  'anarc'ay," 
"king,"  "righteousness,"  "people,"  "nature,"  as  held  now 
and  in  the  seventeenth  century. 


8  ENGLISH   WORDS. 

foreign  language  than  the  people  themselves  take 
from  any  other  nation.  It  is  not  an  evolution  as 
a  plant  is  which  grows  from  a  definite  seed  and 
goes  through  certain  stages  of  change  till  it 
reaches  maturity  and  then  dies,  because,  if  for 
no  other  reason,  its  environment,  the  thought  of 
the  people  which  moulds  it,  is  itself  an  evolution 
of  a  very  complicated  kind.  The  language  of  a 
civilized  nation  undoubtedly  changes  continually, 
both  in  pronunciation  and  in  texture,  according 
to  certain  laws,  but  it  does  not  necessarily  expand 
as  the  civilization  of  the  people  grows  broader 
and  fuller.  Our  language,  for  instance,  has  ac- 
cumulated a  great  many  words  during  the  past 
three  hundred  years — many  more,  indeed,  than  it 
has  lost ,  but  it  is  not  a  more  perfected  instru- 
ment than  it  was  three  hundred  years  ago,  when 
Shakspeare  began  writing  his  comedies  and  King 
James's  version  of  the  Bible  was  made,  although 
it  responds  to  a  wider  range  of  thought.  When 
we  use  the  word,  evolution,  as  applied  to  the 
growth  of  a  language,  v/e  must  remember  that  we 
use  it  in  a  very  restricted  and  metaphorical  sense. 
The  importance  of  a  study  of  words  is  illustrated 
by  the  fact  that  so  many  mistakes  arise  from 
the  careless  use  of  this  very  useful  word,  "  evolu- 
tion." For  instance,  the  successive  stages  through 
which  a  language  passes  are  not  necessarily  stages 
of  development  towards  a  definite  and  determined 


THE  IMPORTANCE  OF  LANGUAGE.       9 

end,  as  the  use  of  the  word  "  evolution  "  in  this 
connection  would  imply. 

The  study  of  a  language  falls  into  two  main 
branches :  the  examination  of  the  material,  and  of 
the  way  in  which  the  material  is  put  together. 
The  material  is  words,  and  they  may  be  consid- 
ered with  reference  to  their  meanings,  or  to  their 
derivations,  or  to  both.  The  body  of  laws  which 
govern  the  grouping  and  modifications  of  words 
is  called  grammar.  The  two  branches  constitute 
philology,  or  the  scientific  examination  of  the 
structure  and  material  of  a  language  as  it  is  at 
present,  and  as  it  was  in  its  earlier  stages.  When 
the  words  and  grammar  of  more  than  one  lan- 
guage are  carefully  examined,  with  a  view  of  dis- 
covering resemblances  or  distinctions  and  bring- 
ing them  under  general  laws,  if  any  can  be  found, 
the  study  is  called  comparative  philology,  or — es- 
pecially if  the  treatment  is  broad,  and  language  in 
general  rather  than  some  one  language  in  partic- 
ular is  the  subject-matter — linguistics.  There  is 
also  another  branch  of  the  general  science  of 
language,  and  that  is  phonetics,  or  the  examina- 
tion of  vocal  sounds,  the  mechanism  which  pro- 
duces them,  and  the  laws  and  customs  which 
govern  the  changes  in  the  pronunciation  of  words 
in  different  nations  and  in  different  centuries. 
It  has  thrown  a  flood  of  light  on  the  manner  in 
which  words  gro\v,  but  it  is  an  extremely  difficult 


lO  ENGLISH    WORDS, 

study,  and  is  the  basis  of  the  modern  "science 
of  language."  This  book  will  deal  simply  with 
the  immediate  derivations  of  a  few '  groups  of 
English  words.  Its  object  is  literary,  not  phil- 
ological, and  it  presupposes  only  the  knowledge 
of  Latin  that  students  entering  college  usually 
possess. 

When  it  is  said  that  the  object  of  this  book  is 
literary,  reference  is  had  to  the  fact  that  by  know- 
ing something  of  the  derivation  and  history  of 
English  words  we  come  to  hold  them  in  a  fuller 
and  richer  sense,  and  to  have  a  certain  number 
of  associations  with  them  which  enables  us  to 
use  them  more  accurately  and  more  picturesque- 
ly. A  feeling  for  words,  such  as  Charles  Lamb 
and  Emerson,  among  others,  possessed,  is  of 
course  a  natural  gift.  Eut  all  men  possess  at 
least  the  rudiments  of  that  discriminative  sense 
in  words,  and  it  is  a  sense  remarkably  responsive 
to  cultivation.  The  true  way  to  strengthen  it  is 
to  read  good  literature,  and  to  note  the  peculiar 
and  delicate  use  of  words  by  literary  artists.  The 
study  of  derivations  is  only  an  aid  to  this  exer- 
cise. If  we  know  the  derivation  and  history  of  a 
word  we  appreciate  it  more  fully,  just  as  we  know 
a  man  better  when  we  have  known  him  in  his 
youth  than  if  we  had  first  met  him  in  middle  age. 
Thus,  when  we  learn  that  '"precipitate"  means  to 
throw  one's  self  headforemost,  and  that  it  comes 


THE  IMPORTANCE  OF  LANGUAGE.      II 

from  pm  caput,  the  word  acquires  a  life  that  it 
had  not  before.  "  Dilapidated  "  is  a  strong  word, 
but  how  much  more  graphic  it  becomes  when  we 
remember  that  it  comes  not  from  di  lapsus  (fallen 
down),  but  from^/->-  and  lapis,  and  is  based  on  the 
idea  of  a  building  where  the  stones  have  fallen 
down  in  ruin — "not  one  stone  left  upon  another." 
We  know  that  it  is  from  lapis  (a  stone),  from 
the  dm  the  word.  In  the  same  way  the  deriva- 
tions of  many  words  throw  light  on  their  mean- 
ings, and  are  frequently  very  suggestive  of  new 
uses.  All  great  writers  have  used  words  with  an 
unconscious  sense  of  the  various  accretions  of 
meaning  they  have  received  from  time  to  time. 
The  scientific  study  of  language  is  perhaps  the 
greatest  and  most  fruitful  of  all  the  modern  lines 
of  investigation.  It  has  secured  a  great  body  of 
facts,  and  has  thrown  a  flood  of  light  on  the  his- 
torical development  of  humanity.  But  only  spe- 
cialists have  the  time  for  this,  whereas  any  one 
can,  with  the  aid  of  a  modern  dictionary,  examine 
the  history  of  a  large  number  of  words  of  his  own 
language,  and  gain  some  power  of  using  them  in 
new  relations.  And  all  persons  should  do  at  least 
as  much  as  this,  since  words  are  the  tools  of  all, 
and  not  the  special  property  of  the  philologist. 

Before  considering  the  subject  of  derivations, 
it  will  be  well,  however,  to  make  a  brief  classifi- 
cation of  the  European  languages,  that  we  may 


12  ENGLISH    WORDS. 

the  better  understand  the  position  and  genesis  of 
our  own. 

On  the  question  of  the  origin  and  growth  of  language, 
students  are  advised  to  read  Max  Muller's  two  series  of 
lectures,  entitled  The  Science  of  Language,  and  his  later 
book,  Language  and  Thought.  I'rofessor  Whitney's  ad- 
mirable treatise,  Language  and  the  Study  of  Language,  as 
well  as  his  shorter  book  in  the  International  Science  Series, 
Life  and  Gro~vth  of  Language,  should  also  be  read.  The 
most  recent  German  views  can  be  found  in  the  Introduction 
to  the  Study  of  the  History  of  Language,  hy  Strong,  Loge- 
man,  and  Wheeler. 


CHAPTER  II. 

THE  RELATIONSHIP  OF  THE  ENGLISH  LANGUAGE. 

The  English  language  is  one  of  an  extensive 
group  or  stock  of  languages  spoken  by  the  peo- 
ples in  Europe  and  Asia,  who  have  had  the  great- 
est part  in  the  development  of  civilization.  This 
is  called  the  Indo-European,  or  Aryan,  stock — 
Indo-European  referring  to  the  territories  in  which 
the  languages  of  the  stock  have  been  spoken,  and 
Aryan  to  the  original  race  or  tribe  from  which  all 
or  nearly  all  of  those  speaking  the  languages  so 
related  are  supposed  to  be  descended.  By  Ger- 
mans it  is  usually  called  the  Indo-Germanic  stock. 
These  languages  are  not  all  related  to  each  other, 
or  to  the  primitive  language,  in  the  same  de- 
gree, and  those  which  are  the  most  closely  related 
to  each  other  are  gathered  into  sub-groups  or 
branches.  No  part  of  the  original  language  has 
survived,  nor  is  it  known  where  the  speakers  of 
the  original  language  lived,  nor  how  long  ago  they 
lived.  The  deduction  from  the  nature  of  the 
words  that  are  common  to  all  or  nearly  all  the 


14  ENGLISH   WORDS. 

languages  of  the  stock  would  point  to  a  locality 
where  barley  was  raised  and  where  certain  trees 
grow  and  certain  animals  could  live.  It  has  been 
usual  to  refer  to  the  high  ground  of  Central  Asia 
as  the  home  of  the  original  Aryans,  or  the  Proto- 
Aryan  tribe.  Other  philologists  maintain  that 
they  came  originally  from  the  fertile  plain  north- 
ward of  the  Black  Sea  in  Europe,  and  others,  even, 
that  the  Scandinavian  peninsula  has  the  best 
claims  to  be  regarded  as  the  seat  of  our  prehis- 
toric, ancestral  race.  That  there  was  an  original 
race  there  can  be  little  doubt,  for  there  certainly 
was  once  an  original  tongue,  and  some  few  facts 
about  its  mode  of  life  can  be  discovered,  but 
the  determination  of  its  abode  after  the  lapse 
of  so  many  centuries  is  probably  impossible.  At 
all  events,  very  v>'ide  boundaries  must  be  assigned. 
It  is  quite  possible,  too,  that  the  climate  cf  the 
Old  World  may  have  changed  materially  since  the 
day  of  the  ancient  Aryans,  so  that  the  evidence 
drawn  from  the  names  of  the  trees  and  plants 
and  animals  known  to  them  may  not  point  to  any 
definite  locality.* 

*  As  the  original  language  must  have  developed  before 
political  institutions  made  large  empires  possible,  wc  may 
assume  that  the  area  in  \:liich  it  was  spoken  was  limited. 
It  is  not  asserted  that  all,  or  even  a  considerable  part,  of 
those  now  speaking  Aryan  languages  are  physical  descend- 
ants of  the  Proto-Aryan  trijje.  Race  is  one  thing,  and  lan- 
guage quite  another.    Some  races  perpetuate  their  language ; 


RELATIONSHIP   OF  THE    ENGLISH    LANGUAGE.     1 5 

The  branches  of  this  great  stock  known  since 
historic  times  are  as  follows  : 

I.  The  Indian. — This  contains  the  various  dia- 
lects of  Hindustanee.  The  principal  literary  rep- 
resentative of  this  group  is  the  Sanskrit,  which  as 
a  spoken  language  died  out  some  three  centuries 
before  the  Christian  era.  It  is  the  speech  of  the 
oldest  Aryan  civilization,  and  is  a  very  copious 
and  graphic  language,  and  knowledge  of  it  forms 
part  of  the  education  of  learned  Hindoos  even 
now.  Probably  as  a  whole  it  resembles  most  close- 
ly the  tongue  of  the  primitive  Aryans,  although, 
of  course,  the  language  of  a  highly  intellectual  and 
thoughtful  people,  like  that  which  wrote  in  San- 
skrit, is  far  more  developed  than  the  speech  of  their 
nomadic  and  semi -barbarous  progenitors  could 
possibly  have  been.  The  modern  representatives 
of  Sanskrit  are  the  Hindustanee  and  other  dia- 
lects of  Northern  India. 

II.  The  Iranian. — This  covers  the  languages 
of  Persia — old  Persian  and  modern  Persian.  The 
Indian  and  Iranian  branches  of  the  Aryan  stock 
constitute  the  south-eastern  or  Asiatic  division. 
The  five  other  branches  constitute  the  north-west- 
ern or  European  division.  Its  modern  represent- 
ative is  the  language  now  spoken  in  Persia. 

otiiers  seem  to  hold  it  very  loosely.  In  the  amalgamation 
of  races  the  better-developed  language  survives  in  a  modified 
form. 


1 6  ENGLISH    WORDS. 

III.  The  Hellenic.  —  This  includes  Greek, 
ancient  and  modern,  the  most  finished,  exact,  and 
copious  of  the  Aryan  languages.  Modern  Greek 
is  sometimes  called  Romaic.  As  a  literary  and 
national  language,  Greek  has  enjoyed  a  longer  life 
by  far  than  any  other  Aryan  tongue. 

IV.  The  Slavonic,  or  Slavo-Lettic.  —  This 
includes  Russian,  Bulgarian,  Servian,  etc.  Rus- 
sian, the  leading  language  of  this  branch,  is  spoken 
by  many  millions  of  people,  and  is  developing  a 
fine  literature.  The  race  is  the  youngest  to  enter 
the  community  of  civilized  peoples,  and  the  lan- 
guage is  said  to  be  marked  by  vigor  and  melody. 

V.  The  Celtic. — The  languages  of  this  branch 
are  rapidly  becoming  extinct.  The  Celts  are  of 
very  great  antiquity,  and  once  occupied  France 
and  the  ]3ritish  Isles.  They  were  divided  into 
two  groups,  the  Kyniri  or  Cyinr'u  and  the  Gaels. 
The  tongue  of  the  Cymri  is  represented  by  Welsh, 
Cornish,  and  Armorican,  or  Breton,  spoken  by  the 
peasants  of  Brittany.  Cornish  became  extinct 
in  the  last  generation.  The  Welsh  possess  a 
copious  imaginative  literature,  but  although  their 
blood  has  entered  largely  into  that  of  our  ])c;)- 
ple,  their  language  seems  to  liave  affeclecl  I'.ng- 
lish  Init  slightly.  (ladhelic,  the  second  ciivibi;jn 
of  the  Celtic  branch,  is  represented  by  !ri>h,  the 
native  language  of  Ireland  ;  I*a\se,  the  language 
of  the  Highlands  of  Scotland  ;  and  Manx,  the  Ian- 


RELATIONSHIP   OF  THE    ENGLISH    LANGUAGE.    1 7 

guage  of  the  Isle  of  Man.  The  Celtic  tongues, 
all  of  which  are  dying  out  gradually,  and  being 
replaced  by  French  and  English,  are  probably 
among  the  oldest  representatives  of  the  great  Ar- 
yan stock  in  colloquial  use  in  Europe,  unless  that 
distinction  be  given  to  the  modern  representatives 
of  the  Italic.  Greek  is  considered  to  be  a  younger 
offshoot  from  the  parent  stock  than  Latin. 

VI.  The  Italic. — The  Latin  is,  of  course,  the 
most  important  of  the  languages  of  this  branch, 
which  comprised  many  tongues  spoken  in  ancient 
Italy.  It  is  perhaps  more  closely  related  to  Greek 
than  to  the  Celtic  or  Teutonic.  It  is  the  source 
of  several  important  modern  languages,  called  as 
a  group  the  Romance  languages.  They  are  the 
Italian,  the  Spanish,  the  Portuguese,  the  French, 
and  the  Provencal.  The  Provencal,  once  spoken 
in  Southern  France  and  Northern  Italy,  developed 
a  highly-cultivated  lyrical  literature  in  the  twelfth 
century,  but  sank  to  the  level  of  a  peasant's /^/c;z.f 
after  the  political  supremacy  of  Northern  France 
was  assured.  Of  late,  successful  efforts  have  been 
made  to  revive  it.  The  influence  of  classical 
Latin  on  all  of  the  modern  European  languages 
has  been  very  great,  since  for  many  centuries  it 
was  tlie  language  of  diplomacy,  philosophy,  and 
religion.  More  than  one -half  of  our  English 
words  —  though  not  the  more  important  part — ■ 
are  derived  from  the  Latin,  either  directly  or  in- 


15  ENGLISH    WORDS. 

directly,  through  French  or  some  other  Romance 
tongue. 

VII.  The  Teutonic. — This  branch  includes 
EngHsh,  Dutch,  German,  Danish,  etc.  The  Italic 
languages  are  spoken  by  about  one  hundred  mill- 
ions of  people,  and  the  Teutonic  by  not  far  from 
twice  that  number.  They  have  spread  very  rap- 
idly in  the  past  five  centuries.  The  Teutonic 
branch  is  divided  into  four  groups  : 

1.  Old  Gothic. — This  was  the  tongue  of  the  first 
of  the  Teutonic  tribes  that  attained  historic  im- 
portance. They  lived  in  Moesia^  on  the  Danube. 
A  translation  of  the  Bible  was  made  into  this  lan- 
guage in  the  fourth  century  by  Ulfilas,  a  mission- 
ary from  Constantinople.  The  Gospels  are  still 
extant,  and  constitute  the  oldest  writing  in  any 
Teutonic  tongue.  The  language  is  extinct,  al- 
though branches  of  the  Goths  were  once  the  rul- 
ers of  Europe. 

2.  The  Norse,  or  Scandinavian,  represented  at 
present  by  Icelandic,  Danish,  Swedish,  and  the 
dialects  spoken  in  Norway,  which  are  slight  modi- 
fications of  Danish,  bearing  somewhat  the  same 
relation  to  it  that  Scotch  does  to  English, 

3.  The  High  Germanic . — This  is  so-called  be- 
cause it  covers  the  languages  spoken  by  the  Teu- 
tonic tribes  of  Upper  Germany,  /.  e.,  the  country 
up  the  rivers  or  farthest  from  the  sea.  Old  High 
German  dates  back  to  the  ele\'enth  century,  and 


RELATIONSHIP    OF  THE    ENGLISH    LANGUAGE.    19 

includes  the  language  of  the  Franks,  the  conquer- 
ors of  Gaul,  and  of  the  Suabians.  Modern  High 
German  is  what  we  all  know  as  German,  and  dates 
from  the  printing  of  Luther's  Bible. 

4.  The  Low  Germanic  group,  so-called  because 
it  was  originally  spoken  by  the  Teutonic  tribes 
living  in  Northern  Germany.  The  ancient  tongues 
of  this  group  are  Friesic,  Netherlandish,  Old  Sax- 
on, and  Anglo-Saxon,  or  Old  English.  The  Friesic 
is  still  spoken  on  the  coast  of  Schleswig-Holstein. 
Dutch,  or  Hollandish,  is  the  modern  representa- 
tive of  Netherlandish,  and  Platt-Deutsch,  or  Low 
German — which  must  by  no  means  be  considered 
a  dialect  of  German,  since  it  is  very  much  more 
closely  related  to  English  and  Hollandish  than  it 
is  to  German  —  is  the  modern  representative  of 
old  Saxon.  It  is  a  popular  idiom,  though  some 
modern  novels  have  been  printed  in  it,  and  is  quite 
extensively  spoken.  The  fourth  member  of  this 
group  is  English,  which  is  a  thoroughly  Teutonic 
language  in  spirit  and  descent,  though  it  has  taken 
up  so  large  a  Latin  element  into  its  vocabulary. 
Its  grammar  is  a  broken-down  Anglo-Saxon  gram- 
mar, and  its  articulations  are  made  by  Teutonic 
particles.  It  has  been  enriched,  not  diluted,  by 
words  of  foreign  origin.  It  is  now  spoken  and 
read  by  a  larger  body  of  people  than  is  any  other 
language,  for  Chinese  is  separated  into  a  large 
number  of  dialects,  many  of  which  are  not  Intel- 


20  ENGLISH    WORDS. 

ligiblc  except  to  the  dwellers  in  limited  districts, 
and  the  Mandarin,  or  Court  language,  is  under- 
stood only  by  the  educated  classes. 

As  philological  science  advances,  under  the 
guidance  of  modern  phonetics,  judgments  as  to 
the  closeness  of  relationship  between  various  lan- 
guages become  modified.  Classifications  slightly 
differing  from  the  above  have  been  suggested. 
One  of  the  latest  is  found  in  Brugmann's  Com- 
parative Grammar  (1888).  He  makes  one  more 
main  branch,  the  Albanian,  the  language  of  An- 
cient Illyria,  the  words  of  which  have  been  de- 
tached by  patient  study  from  the  mass  of  intrusive 
Turkish,  Slavonic,  and  Greek  terms  which  have 
overwhelmed  the  modern  spoken  Albanian. 

The  Armenian,  instead  of  being  ranked  under 
the  Iranian  branch,  is  made  an  independent  mem- 
ber, and  Indian  and  Iranian  are  grouped  together 
to  form  the  Aryan  branch. 

The  Gallic  is  recognized  as  a  member  of  the 
Celtic  branch,  though  all  that  is  known  of  it  is  a 
few  words  quoted  by  Latin  authors  and  a  few 
proper  names,  mostly  on  coins. 

The  most  important  modification  is  in  the  ar- 
rangement of  the  Teutonic  tongues.  These  Iirug- 
mann  divides  into  Gothic,  Xorse,  and  West  Ger- 
manic. Gothic  and  Norse  (or  Scandinavian)  are 
considered  to  be  closely  related,  and  the  modern 
representatives  of  the  latter  —  Icelandic,  Xorwe- 


RELATIONSHIP    OF  THE    ENGLISH    LANGUAGE.    2  1 

gian,  Swedish,  and  Danish  —  vvere  practically  a 
single  language  down  to  the  Viking  period  (a.d. 
Soo-iooo).  These  are  also  called  East  Germanic, 
as  opposed  to  the  West  Germanic  tongues  — 
English,  Dutch,  Low  German,  and  High  German. 
The  Aryan  languages  are  the  only  ones  spoken 
in  Europe,  if  we  except  one  or  two  representatives 
of  the  Turanian  stock,  as  Turkish,  the  Magyar 
(still  spoken  in  parts  of  Hungary),  the  Finnish  and 
Lapp  of  Xorthern  Russia,  and  the  fragmentary  rep- 
resentatives of  the  Semitic  speech  scattered  over 
Western  Europe.  To  one  Semitic  race — the  Jews 
— we  owe  our  religion,  and  to  another — the  Arabs 
of  Spain — we  owe  our  rudimentary  conceptions  of 
science.  From  the  latter  we  have  received  quite 
a  number  of  words,  arithmetical,  astronomical,  and 
the  like,  but  our  speech  is  widely  removed  from 
theirs.  There  is,  however,  in  the  Pyrenees  in 
Spain  and  France  an  interesting  survival  of  a  peo- 
ple probably  even  older  than  the  Proto- Aryans. 
This  is  the  Basques,  a  small  community  still  ad- 
hering to  its  original  speech,  which  has  no  affinity 
to  any  of  the  other  tongues  of  Europe.  They 
represent  a  little  fragment  of  a  prehistoric  race 
stranded  in  a  country  which  has  been  overrun  by 
Celts,  Semitic  Phoenicians  and  ^Nloors,  Italians, 
and  Teutonic  Goths  and  Vandals.  They  are  like 
the  isolated  vegetable  life  of  a  mountain  that  has 
survived  ireologic  chansfcs  which  have  transformed 


22  ENGLISH    Vv'ORDS. 

the  figure  of  a  continent  and  left  the  stunted 
shrubs  and  mosses  of  the  earher  era  unaffected, 
but  restricted  to  a  limited  territory  where  the 
newer  forms  could  find  no  foothold.  Linguistic- 
ally and  ethnologically,  these  Basques  are  entitled 
to  look  down  upon  Spaniards  and  Portuguese  as 
recent  arrivals,  and  to  consider  themselves  as  the 
pure-blooded,  ancient  race.  Their  language,  into 
which  a  large  number  of  Spanish  vocables  has 
been  taken,  is  said  to  have  little  fitness  for  literary 
use.  Ethnologically,  they  are  called  Iberians. 
They  call  themselves  Euscaldunac,  and  their  lan- 
guage Euscara.  They  number  500,000,  and  retain 
very  many  ancient  customs  and  race  characteris- 
tics. The  inhabitants  of  the  south-western  part  of 
France  also  show  distinct  traces  of  this  ancient 
blood,  notably  in  Navarre,  though  the  language 
has  long  been  abandoned.  The  geographical 
term  Biscay  is  derived  from  Basque. 

The  question  of  the  original  home  of  the  Proto-Aryans 
must  always  remain  unsettled  for  want  of  evidence,  and  for 
the  same  reason  v.dll  always  be  a  favorite  subject  of  discus- 
sion among  philologists.  Students  are  recommended  to  read 
Taylor's  The  Origin  of  the  Aryans,  and  the  papers  brought 
out  by  its  publication.  Also  the  Prehistoric  Antiquities  of 
the  Aryan  /Vcy^i/t'^  (Schrader  and  Jevons). 


CHAPTER  III. 

NATURE    AND     PROOF    OF    LINGUISTIC     RELATION- 
SHIP. 

The  relationship  of  the  Indo-European  lan- 
guages spoken  of  in  the  foregoing  chapter  is  a 
relationship  of  structure  and  of  material  both. 
We  shall  consider  only  the  relationship  of  mate- 
rial— that  is,  of  words.  But  we  must  remember 
that  merely  finding  a  word,  or  even  a  number  of 
words,  in  one  language  naturalized  in  another  is 
no  evidence  of  a  common  origin  of  the  two  lan- 
guages. Words  may  of  course  be  borrowed  from 
any  other  language  at  any  time.  These  are  fre- 
quently retained  and  become  fully  naturalized. 
This  is  especially  likely  to  be  the  case  when  the 
borrowing  people  does  not  previously  possess  or 
knovv^  the  thing  to  which  the  word  is  applied.  If 
the  telephone  and  the  steam-engine  are  introduced 
into  China,  the  Chinese  will  probably  adopt  the 
words  we  have  invented  for  names  of  the  parts 
of  the  apparatus.  But  the  words  for  the  most 
evident  natural  bodies  and  phenomena,  and  for 


24  ENGLISH    WORDS. 

the  fundamental  human  relations,  and  for  all  com- 
mon operations,  cannot  well  be  intrusive  words. 
Sun,  moon,  water,  man,  son,  daughter,  sky,  stars, 
tree,  as  well  as  the  verbs  to  kill,  to  eat,  to  strike, 
to  dig,  to  weave,  and  many  others  are  very  evi- 
dently primitive  words,  as  are  also  the  numerals 
from  one  to  ten ;  and  when  we  find  that  the  Ger- 
man words  sohn,  rater,  7nHttci\  /oc/iter,  stern,  essen, 
gehen  are  very  similar  to  our  words  for  the  same 
things,  we  say  confidently,  either  German  is  a 
sort  of  English,  or  English  is  a  sort  of  German, 
or  they  are  both  changed  forms  of  the  same 
original  language.  This  last  is  evidently  much 
the  most  likely  supposition,  for  both  languages 
are  subject  to  change.  It  has  been  proved  to  be 
true  by  a  variety  of  arguments.  One  of  the  sim- 
plest is,  that  when  words  appear  under  altered 
forms  in  dift'erent  members  of  the  same  family  of 
languages,  the  diversity  of  form  is  subject  to  a 
definite  rule.  The  sounds  of  the  two  languages 
are  connected  by  a  law.  The  dift'erences  are  not 
hap -hazard,  but  are  regulated.  A  certain  ten. 
dency  of  pronunciation  has  worked  in  one  lan- 
guage and  another  tendency  in  the  other.  This 
consideration  enables  us  vastly  to  increase  the 
number  of  words  which  are  evidently  related  in 
each  language,  and  to  say  that  the  differences 
are  accounted  for  as  not  original,  but  as  growths. 
The  resemblances  must    be  accounted   for,   and 


NATURE   OF    LINGUISTIC    RELATIONSHIP. 


they  point  to  a  common  origin  ;  and  to  .show  that 
the  differences  also  point  to  a  common  origin  of 
the  two  languages  in  question  is  one  of  the  great 
triumphs  of  modern  philology — the  scientific  treat- 
m.ent  of  the  words  of  the  Aryan  languages.  The 
readiest  and  simplest  illustration  of  this  is  to  be 
found  in  the  consonantal  reciprocity  in  cognate 
tongues,  which  is  expressed  in  what  is  known  as 
"Grimm's  Law,"  named  after  its  discoverer,  the 
German  philologist,  Jacob  Grimm.  The  following 
statement  is  taken  from  Earle's  Philology  of  the 
English  Tongue : 

"  We  suppose  the  reader  is  familiar  with  the 
twofold  division  of  the  mute  consonants  into  lip, 
tooth,  and  throat  consonants  in  one  direction, 
and  into  thin,  medial,  and  aspirate  consonants 
on  the  other.  If  not,  he  should  learn  this  little 
table  by  heart  before  he  proceeds  a  step  further. 
Learn  it  by  rote  both  ways,  both  horizontally  and 
vertically : 


Lip       1    Tooth 
(Labial).  ;  (Dental). 

Throat 
(Guttural). 

Till  X 

Mkdial 
a  si' i  rate 

„     !     . 

b                  d 

f              th 

1 

c  =  k      [    1 1 1 1  .\ 
g           Medial 
li  (Saxon) ,   Asi'iRATE 

By  means  of  this  classification  of   the    mutes,* 
*  Besides  the  mute  consonants  we  have  the  trilled  /  and 


26  ENGLISH    WORDS. 

we  are  able  to  show  traces  of  a  law  of  transition 
having  existed  between  English  and  the  classical 
languages.  We  find  instances  of  words,  for  ex- 
ample, which  begin  with  a  thin  consonant  in 
Greek  or  Latin  or  both,  and  the  same  word  is 
found  in  English  or  its  cognate  dialects  beginning 
with  an  aspirate.  Thus,  if  the  Latin  or  Greek 
word  begins  with/,  the  English  word  begins  with 
f,  e.g.,  -vf)  and  Jire ;  tt^o,  TrpCjror.  primus  andyf/'jV. 
Compare  with  the  Saxon  \sox^'~,  fntina,frcm,  the 
modern  preposition  from — which  is  of  the  same 
root  and  original  sense  —  with  for,  fare,  forth; 
TTwXor,  puUus,\s\\\\  foal,  flly  ;  peUis\\\\\\fcIl;  77 Di', 
picgnits,  with  yfj"//  -arlin,  pater,  \\\\.\\  fat/icr  ;  -irve 
\\i\.h.fivc;  -ovr.  pts,  \\\i\\foot;  piscis  with//jv/.  etc. 

"  If  the  classical  word  begins  with  an  aspi- 
rate, the  English  word  begins  with  a  medial  : 
e.g..,  the  Greek  (\),  or  Latin  f,  is  found  respon- 
sive to  the  English  h.  Thus,  (^■riy<'i<:,  fjgns,  and 
beech;  (\,vm.^  fii  (perfect  stem  of  sum),  and  l>e ; 
(j,paTj)ia,  f rater,  and  brother ;  (\,ipijj,  fero,  and  bear. 
The  Greek  0  by  the  same  rule  responds  to  the 
English  d,  as  in  f)//()  and  deer ;  Ovyuriji)  and  daugh- 
ter; OuiHt  and  door. 

"  If  the  Greek  or  Latin  has  the  medial,  the  Eng- 

r,  tlie  sibilants  s,  z,  and  x  =  ks,  and  ihe  nasals  //,  w,  and  ;/^^ 
The  last  are  also  labial  mutes — that  is,  the  s(rand  is  stopped 
by  the  li])s.  (jrimni's  Law  refers,  however,  only  to  the 
consonants  contained  in  tlie  table. 


NATURE   OF    LINGUISTIC   RELATIONSHIP,        27 

lish  should  have  the  thin ;  that  is  to  say,  a  classic 
c  ox  d  should  correspond  to  our  English  /.  So 
it  does  in  cakvju  and  tear;  cuo,  duo,  and  fzao ;  ciKci, 
decern,  and  te7i ;  cf'/nw,  domiis,  and  twibrati  (the 
Saxon  word  for  building);  circpot',  cpvc,  and  tree ; 
dingua,  archaic  Latin  for  lingua  and  tongue.  These 
and  all  such  illustrations  may  be  summarized  for 
convenience'  sake  in  the  following  mnemonic 
formula  : 

T  A  M 

%       m       % 

In  this  the  letters  of  the  Latin  word  tam  placed 
over  the  Gothic  letters  of  the  German  word  ^^(nit 
are  intended  to  bracket  together  the  initial  letters 
of  thins,  medials,  and  aspirates,  so  as  to  repre- 
sent the  order  of  transition. 

"  In  the  use  of  this  scheme,  we  will  suppose  the 
student  to  be  inquiring  after  the  Greek  and  Latin 
analogues  to  the  English  word  /'/;;//.  The  word 
begins  with  a  tenuis  or  thin  consonant,  and  thus 
directs  us  to  the  letter  /  in  the  Gothic  word  Amt. 
Over  this  /  we  find  in  the  Latin  word  an  vi,  and 
by  this  we  are  taught  that  the  medial  of  /',  which 
is  g  (see  Table),  will  be  the  corresponding  initial 
in  Greek  and  Latin.  Thus  we  are  directed  to 
yiv  and  gigno  as  the  analogues  of  kin  and  kind. 
The  same  process  will  lead  from  knee  to  yow  and 
genu,  from  ken  and  know,  to  yiyrwa/vw."* 

*  Skeat  formulates  the  law  of  phonetic  change  more  con- 


28  ENGLISH    WORDS. 

In  Other  words,  a  Latin  thin  consonant  changes 
into  an  aspirate  in  the  corresponding  English 
word,  a  Latin  aspirate  into  an  pjigHsh  medial, 
and  a  Latin  medial  into  an  English  thin,  and  the 
reverse  is  of  course  true  in  all  these  cases,  the 
labial,  dental,  and  guttural  quality  remaining  un- 
changed. A  familiar  example  of  a  corresponding 
phenomenon  is  that  a  German  or  Frenchman  in- 
varialily  changes  the  English  ///  into  a  d,  saying 
dc  for  the. 

"These  examples  will  satisfy  the  reader  that 
here  we  have  traces  of  a  regular  law,  and  that 
our  language  is  of  one  and  the  same  strain  with 
the  Greek  and  Latin  —  that  is  to  say,  that  it  be- 
longs to  the  great  Aryan  or  Indo-European  family. 

"  A  succession  of  small  divergences  which  run 
upon  stated  lines  of  variation  —  lines  having  a 
determinate  relation  to  one  another,  and  consti- 
tuting an  orbit  in  which  the  transitional  move- 
ment revolves  :  this  is  a  phenomenon  worthy  of 
our  contemplation.  It  is  tlie  simplest  conception 
of  a  fact  which  in  other  shapes  will  meet  us  again, 
namely,  that  the  beauty  of  philology  springs  out 
of  that  variety  in  unity  which  makes  all  nature 
beautiful  and  all  study  of  nature  profoundly  at- 
tractive." 

ciscly  and  compreliensively.  I  give  Eark-'s  >-tatcmc'.it  l)e- 
cause  it  is  more  graphic,  and  st-enis  to  me  mure  likely  to 
imi)ress  on  tlie  young  reader  the  breadth  i/f  tiie  relation. 


NATURE   OF    LINGUISTIC    RELATIONSHIP.        29 

"  It  would  be  easy  to  discover  a  great  number 
of  examples  which  lie  outside  of  the  above  anal- 
ogy. One  important  cause  of  unconformability 
is  the  introduction  of  foreign  words.  This  ap- 
plies to  all  Teutonic  words  beginning  with  /, 
which  are  foreigners*  and  not  subject  to  Grimm's 
Law.  There  is  also  a  certain  amount  of  acci- 
dental disturbance.  Casualties  happen  to  words 
as  to  all  mortal  products,  and  in  the  course  of 
time  their  forms  become  defaced.  The  German 
language  offers  many  examples  of  this.  If  I 
wanted  to  understand  the  consonantal  analogies 
which  exist  between  English  and  the  German,  I 
should  prefer  as  a  general  rule  to  go  to  the  oldest 
form  of  German,  because  a  conventional  orthog- 
raphy, among  other  causes,  has  in  German  led  to 
a  disfigurement  of  many  of  the  forms." 

Furthermore,  it  is  only  in  the  early  stages  of  a 
language  that  words  are  spelled  as  they  are  pro- 
nounced, and  Grimm's  Law  is  applied  to  letters. 
The  spelling  changes  much  more  slowly  than  the 
pronunciation.  In  fact,  after  printing  becomes 
general,  it  is  very  difficult  to  change  the  spelling 
of  words.     Thus  there  have  been  many  changes 

*  Tliat  is  to  say,  "  foreigners"  in  the  sense  of  not  conform- 
ing to  Grimm's  Law.  At  least  ninety-five  per  cent,  of  our 
words  beginning  with  /  are  derived  from  Latin  or  Greek, 
but  a  few,  e.g.,  pith,  paddock  (a  toad),  pad  (in  footpad), 
path,  pant,  pebble,  prick,  pride,  plough,  pod,  purr,  etc.,  are 
of  undoubted  Teutonic  iineac;e. 


30  ENGLISH    WORDS. 

in  the  pronunciation  of  English  during  the  past 
century,  but  the  changes  in  spelling  have  been 
comparatively  unimportant,  and  have  not  fol- 
lowed the  changes  in  sound.  We  have  dropped 
the  /',  for  instance,  in  words  ending  in  ick^  like 
music  and  mathanalics,  derived  from  the  Greek, 
although  the  pronunciation  of  the  final  syllable 
has  not  varied.  Fortunately,  consonants  remain 
comparatively  fixed,  but  many  words  containing 
the  vowel  sound  represented  by  ca,  like  sea  and 
tea,  have  changed  from  the  a  sound  to  the  e  sound 
as  represented  in  Jic^  but  the  spelling  remains  and 
will  always  remain  the  same.* 

Thus,  changes  may  be  going  on  in  the  pronun- 
ciation of  a  language  of  which  philology  has  no 
record. t     It  is  very  doubtful  if  we  could  under- 

*  The  Irish  still  retain  the  early  sound  of  ca,  and  call 
tea,  tay ;  sea,  say,  etc.  In  this  and  in  many  other  peculiar- 
ities of  what  we  call  brogue,  their  pronunciation  of  English 
is  much  nearer  to  tliat  of  educated  Englishmen  of  the  sev- 
enteenth and  eigliteenth  centuries  than  is  ours.  Pope  makes 
tea  rhyme  to  awav,  and  to  say  : 

"  Muse  o'er  some  book,  or  trifle  o'er  the  tea, 
Or  witli  soft  musick  charm  dull  care  away." 
Again, 

"Mere,  thou  great  Anna  I  whom  three  realms  obey, 
Dost  sometimes  counsel  take,  and  sometimes  tea." 

Still  earlier,  Surrey  makes  /raise    rhyme  to  /eas,  Jteat  to 
great,  2Si<\  peaee  to  days.      We  have  saved  this  old  sound  in 
great  and   break.      The   French  words   from  which  please, 
reason,  treason,  and  ease  are  derived,  all  have  the  ^f  sound. 
f  Tlie  decay  of  the  trilled  ;■  in  many  parts  of  our  coun- 


NATURE    OF    LINGUISTIC    RELATIONSHIP.        3 1 

stand  English  as  spoken  by  Francis  Bacon  and  his 
contemporaries.  Fortunately,  the  great  charac- 
teristics of  English  were  formed  long  before  that 
date,  and  therefore  stand  embalmed  in  the  print- 
ed language,  if  spelling  varied  as  rapidly  as  pro- 
nunciation does,  philologists  would  be  very  much 
at  sea.  The  origin  of  some  modern  words  would 
have  been  entirely  obscured. 

The  effect  of  the  discovery  of  the  wide  relation- 
ship of  the  Aryan  languages  has  undoubtedly 
been  very  great.  For  a  relationship  of  language 
implies,  though  it  does  not  prove,  a  relationship 
of  blood.  Max  Miiller  says  that  the  name  Indo- 
European  "marked  not  only  a  new  epoch  in  the 
study  of  language,  it  ushered  in  a  new  period  in 
the  history  of  the  v.-orld."'  In  fact,  he  seems  to 
think  that  the  linguistic  bond,  evidenced  by  con- 
sonants, vowels,  and  accents,  proves  an  intellect- 
ual fraternity  far  stronger  than  any  merely  gene- 
alogical relationship.  Blood  may  be  thicker  than 
water,  but  it  does  not  follow  that  language  is  a 
tie  stronger  than  blood.  The  strength  of  the 
'•  Panslavic  idea,"  for  instance,  is  based  on  a  feel- 
ing of  blood  relationship,  and  German  national- 
try,  and  the  New  England  tendency  to  change  final  azv  into 
cnvr,  making  /azv  and  sa-ci  into  /azcr  and  jrtt.-'r,  is  another 
instance  of  phonetic  change.  The  misplacement  of  the  ,h 
in  England  is  still  more  remarkable.  No  matter  how  care- 
ful an  Englishman  is  to  avoid  it,  he  sometimes  falls  into  it 
if  sutTicientlv  excited. 


32  ENGLISH    WORDS. 

ity  rests  on  the  conception  of  race,  not  language. 
It  will  be  best,  however,  to  allow  this  eminent 
philologist  and  entertaining  writer  to  speak  for 
himself.     Max  ]\Iiiller  says  : 

"When  the  Hindus  learned  for  the  first  time 
that  their  ancient  language,  the  .Sanskrit,  was 
closely  connected  with  Greek  and  Latin,  and  with 
that  uncouth  jargon  spoken  by  their  rulers,  they 
began  to  feel  a  pride  in  their  language  and  their 
descent,  and  they  ceased  to  look  upon  the  pale- 
skinned  strangers  from  the  North  as  strange 
creatures  from  another,  whether  a  better  or  a 
worse,  world.  They  felt  what  we  feel  when  later 
in  life  we  meet  with  a  man  whom  we  had  quite 
forgotten.  But  as  soon  as  he  tells  us  that  he 
was  at  the  same  school  with  ourselves,  as  soon  as 
he  can  remind  us  of  our  common  masters,  or  re- 
peat some  of  the  slang  terms  of  our  common 
childhood  and  youth,  he  becomes  a  school-fellow, 
a  fellow,  a  man  whom  we  seem  to  know,  though 
we  do  not  even  recollect  his  name.  Neither  the 
English  nor  the  Hindus  recollected  their  having 
been  at  the  same  school  together  thousands  of 
years  ago,  but  the  mere  fact  cf  their  using  the 
same  slang  words,  such  as  iiidLir  and  mother, 
such  as  bhratar  and  brother,  such  as  staras  and 
stars,  was  sufficient  to  convince  them  that  most 
likely  they  had  been  in  the  same  scrapes  and 
had  been  liogged  by  the  same  masters.     It  was 


NATURE    OF    LINGUISTIC    RELATIONSHIP,        ^;^ 

not  SO  much  that  either  the  one  or  the  other  par- 
ty felt  very  much  raised  in  their  own  eyes  by  this 
discovery,  as  that  a  feeling  sprang  up  between 
them  that,  after  all,  they  might  be  chips  of  the 
same  block.  I  could  give  you  ever  so  many 
proofs  in  support  of  this  assertion,  at  all  events 
on  the  part  of  the  Hindus,  and  likevv'ise  from  the 
speeches  of  some  of  the  most  enlightened  rulers 
of  India.  But  as  I  might  seem  to  be  a  not  alto- 
gether unprejudiced  witness  in  such  a  matter,  I 
prefer  to  quote  the  words  of  an  eminent  Ameri- 
can scholar,  Mr.  Horatio  Hale:  'When  the  peo- 
ple of  Hindustan  in  the  last  century,'  he  writes, 
'came  under  the  British  power,  they  were  regard- 
ed as  a  debased  and  alien  race.  Their  complex- 
ion reminded  their  conquerors  of  Africa.  Their 
divinities  were  hideous  monsters.  Their  social 
system  was  anti-human  and  detestable.  Suttee, 
Thuggee,  Juggernaut,  all  sorts  of  cruel  and  shock- 
ing abominations,  seemed  to  characterize  and  de- 
grade them.  The  proudest  Indian  prince  was, 
in  the  sight  and  ordinary  speech  of  the  rawest 
white  subaltern,  only  a  "nigger,"  This  univer- 
sal contempt  was  retorted  with  a  hatred  as  uni- 
versal, and  threatening  in  the  future  most  disas- 
trous consequences  to  the  British  rule.  Then 
came  an  unexpected  and  wonderful  discovery. 
European  philologists,  studying  the  language  of 
the  conquered  race,  discovered  that  the  classic 

3 


34  ENGLISH    WORDS. 

mother  tongue  of  Northern  Hindustan  was  the 
elder  sister  of  the  Greek,  the  Latin,  the  German, 
and  the  Celtic  languages.  At  the  same  time  a 
splendid  literature  was  unearthed,  which  filled 
the  scholars  of  Europe  with  astonishment  and 
delight.  The  despised  Asiatics  became  not  only 
the  blood-relations,  but  the  teachers  and  exem- 
plars of  their  conquerors.  The  revolution  of 
feeling  on  both  sides  was  immense.  Mutual  es- 
teem and  confidence,  to  a  large  extent,  took  the 
place  of  revulsion  and  distrust.  Even  in  the 
mutiny  which  occurred  while  the  change  v.'as  yet 
in  progress,  a  very  large  proportion  of  the  native 
princes  and  people  refused  to  take  part  in  the 
outbreak.  Since  that  time  good-will  has  steadily 
grown  with  the  fellowship  of  common  sLudies  and 
aims.  It  may  freely  be  affirmed,  at  this  day,  that 
the  discovery  of  the  Sanskrit  /anguagc  and  literature 
has  been  of  more  value  to  England  in  the  retention 
and  increase  of  her  Indian  Ejnpire  than  an  army  of 
a  hundred  thousand  men.'' 

"  This  is  but  one  out  of  many  lessons  which  the 
Science  of  Language  has  taught  us.  We  have 
become  familiarized  with  many  of  these  lessons, 
and  are  apt  to  forget  that  not  more  than  fifty 
years  ago  they  were  scouted  as  absurd  by  the 
majority  of  classical  scholars,  while  they  have 
proved  to  be  the  discovery  of  a  new  v/orld,  or,  if 
you  like,  the  recovery  of  an  old  world."' 


NATURE   OF    LINGUISTIC    RELATIONSHIP,       35 

It  may  be  doubted  whether  the  practical  hu- 
manizing effect  of  the  conckisions  of  philology  is 
quite  as  great  in  overcoming  race  prejudice  as  the 
above  quotation  would  lead  us  to  infer.  Their 
power  in  broadening  the  minds  of  men  of  educa- 
tion is  certainly  very  great.  They  should  be  wel- 
comed and  valued  as  truth  without  any  reference 
to  political  bearing.  Imperial  policy  with  regard 
to  Turkish  alliances  or  to  the  government  of  Hin- 
dustan will  hardly  be  influenced  by  linguistic  gen- 
eralizations. But  any  sense  of  the  antiquity  of 
our  Aryan  relationships  ought  to  give  us  a  fuller 
sympathy  with  the  other  civilizations  of  our  stock, 
and  a  sounder  foundation  for  our  respect  for  those 
of  our  own  Germanic  branch. 

The  mutations  of  vocal  utterance  in  groups  of  men 
whereby  first  dialects,  and  finally  distinct  languages,  are 
formed,  are  subject  to  a  number  of  laws  which  modern  phi- 
lology is  seeking  to  disentangle.  The  article  on  pronuncia- 
tion in  the  International  Dictionary  is  as  accessible  an  ex- 
planation of  the  mechanism  of  human  speech  as  can  be 
mentioned.  It  contains  an  admirable,  systematic  discussion 
of  the  action  of  the  vocal  organs  in  forming  the  sounds  of 
the  English  language,  and  opens  a  branch  of  the  subject  to 
which  this  book  does  nothing  more  than  refer. 

An  Introduction  to  Phonetics,  by  Laura  Soames,  is  an  ex- 
cellent analysis  of  the  vocal  sounds  of  English,  French,  and 
German. 


CHAPTER  IV. 

SOURCES  OF  MODERN   ENGLISH  WORDS. 

Various  theories  have  been  advanced  to  ex- 
plain the  origin  of  language.  None  of  them  is 
altogether  convincing,  although  some  are  sus- 
tained by  very  ingenious  and  original  arguments. 
If  the  origin  of  language  was  definitely  settled,  the 
origin  of  the  human  race  would  be  also  settled, 
and  after  that  the  origin  of  life  on  this  planet 
would  present  little  mystery.  It  is  much  more 
satisfactory  to  confine  ourselves  to  historic  time, 
or  to  the  period  during  which  we  have  written 
documents,  which,  indeed,  offers  a  sufficient  field 
for  the  generalizer  and  for  the  accumulator  of 
facts. 

Our  English  of  to-day  is  the  speech  of  a  Low- 
Germanic  people,  so  greatly  modified  by  change 
as  to  be  substantially  a  new  language  compared 
with  its  form  in  the  tenth  century,  and  further 
modified  by  the  naturalization  of  a  very  great 
number  of  words  of  a  foreign  tongue.  During  the 
past  nine  or  ten  centuries  there  has  never  been  a 


SOURCES    OF   MODERN    ENGLISH    WORDS.        37 

period  when  a  generation  of  Englishmen  could 
not  understand  the  language  of  their  grandchil- 
dren, though  possibly  when  the  change  was  most 
rapid  the  men  of  one  century  might  have  regard- 
ed the  men  of  the  next  as  speakers  of  a  foreign 
tongue  if  they  could  have  heard  them  talk.  At 
the  same  time,  English  is  an  entirely  distinct  lan- 
guage from  Anglo-Saxon.  A  very  rapid  review  of 
its  stages  of  growth  will  enable  us  to  understand 
better  the  character  of  modern  English. 

The  island  of  Britain  was  at  the  date  of  the 
Christian  era  inhabited  by  Celts,  representing 
both  of  the  great  Celtic  families  :  the  Cymri  and 
the  Gaels,  the  Cymric  tribes  occupying  the  south- 
ern half.  It  was  invaded  by  Julius  Cajsar  55  b.c, 
and  subsequently  made  a  Roman  province,  the 
work  of  subjugation  extending  from  a.d.  42  to 
the  close  of  the  first  Christian  century.  The 
northern  part  of  the  island,  now  Scotland,  was 
never  entirely  conquered,  and  savage  tribes  of 
Celts — possibly  of  a  still  older  race — maintained 
their  independence  there.  When  the  Roman  Em- 
pire began  to  break  up,  the  legions  were  recalled, 
and  Britain  was  abandoned  early  in  the  fifth  cen- 
tury. The  Roman  invasion  left  no  radical  traces 
on  the  language  of  the  inhabitants,  beyond  a 
few  geographical  names  generally  compounded 
of  caste/;  a  camp,  which  will  be  noticed  here- 
after.    It  is  evident  that  Britain  was  never  Latin- 


38  ENGLISH    WORDS. 

ized  in  the  thorough  manner  that  Gaul  and  Spain 
were. 

Previous  to  the  withdrawal  of  the  Romans,  it  is 
highly  probable  that  members  of  the  energetic  Low 
German  tribes,  who  occupied  what  is  now  Hol- 
land, Schleswig-Holstein,  and  North  Germany  on 
the  Baltic,  had  settled  on  the  eastern  shore.  At 
all  events,  a  Roman  officer,  having  command  of  a 
number  of  galleys,  was  styled  "  Count  of  the  Sax- 
on Shore,"*  and  his  jurisdiction  extended  from  the 
Thames  as  far  north  as  the  Saxons  would  be  like- 
ly to  land.  His  duty  must  have  been  to  look  after 
those  already  in  Britain,  or  to  keep  others  of  the 
active  marauders  out.  The  Jutes  especially  were 
dreaded  as  fierce  and  bold  pirates  as  much  as  the 
Northmen  were  later.  But  as  soon  as  the  military 
power  was  withdrawn,  the  inhabitants  of  South 
Britain  were  exposed  to  incursions  from  their 
savage  kindred  of  the  North,  and  from  the  Lov/ 
Germans  across  the  Channel  and  the  North  Sea. 
According  to  the  Anglo-Saxon  chronicle,  Hengist 
and  Horsa  came  over  in  449  with  a  body  of  Jutes 
— either  by  invitation  of  the  l^ritons  or  of  their 
own  motion  —  and  founded  the  kingdom  of  Kent. 
In  477  ALWn.  landed  near  Chichester,  and  founded 
the  kingdom  of  the  South  Saxons,  or  Sussex. 
During  the  sixth  century  the  Angles,  a  closely- 

*  See  Dean  Cliurch's  .story,  so  named,  for  an  excellent 
romantico-liistoric  picture  of  tliis  time. 


SOURCES    OF    MODERN    ENGLISH    WORDS.        39 

related  tribe,  founded  kingdoms  in  the  north,  the 
largest  of  which  was  Northumbria.  The  seven 
kingdoms,  Kent,  Essex,  Sussex,  Wessex,  North- 
umbria, Mercia  (the  inarch^  or  frontier,  or  marked- 
^ place),  and  East  Anglia — including  the  modern 
Norfolk  and  Suffolk  (the  North  and  South  people) 
— are  sometimes  referred  to  as  the  Heptarchy. 
These  invasions  of  course  imply  the  conquest  and 
subjugation  or  removal  of  the  Britons,  and  were 
followed  by  bloody  wars  between  the  settlements 
until  Wessex  and  Mercia,  under  Alfred,  attained  a 
precarious  overlordship.  There  is  some  evidence 
that  the  word  Angle  was  regarded  as  a  generic 
name.  At  all  events,  the  country  as  a  whole  came 
to  be  called  Angle-land.  It  may  be,  however,  that 
the  Angles  were  so  far  superior  in  numbers  that 
their  specific  name  was  given  to  the  entire  coun- 
try- conquered  by  them  and  the  Saxons. 

It  must  be  borne  in  mind  that  at  that  time  Eng- 
land was  a  wild  country,  large  portions  of  it  be- 
ing covered  by  unbroken  forests  and  impassable 
swamps.  The  settlements  were  made  up  the  val- 
leys of  the  rivers  or  along  the  old  Roman  roads. 
Thus  the  division  into  independent  kingdoms,  as 
they  were  called,  is  accounted  for.  The  Celts  were 
driven  into  inaccessible  places  towards  the  west, 
and  occupied  Cornwall,  \\'ales,  Cumberland,  and 
Strathclyde.  They  were  called  generically  Welsh 
— /.  c'.,  foreigners  (Anglo-Saxon,,  luelisc,  foreign). 


40  ENGLISH    WORDS. 

Cornwall  means  West  Wales ;  and  Cumberland, 
the  land  of  the  Kumroi,  or  Cymri.  Many  of  the 
Celts  were  no  doubt  reduced  to  slavery,  especially 
in  the  large  cities  like  London,  or  remained  in  a 
semi-servile  condition  ;  certainly  their  blood  has 
gone  to  make  up  the  modern  Englishman,  although 
their  speech  has  affected  his  speech  but  little. 

The  Low  Germans  were  hardly  settled  in  their 
new  country  when  they  were  themselves  subjected 
to  invasion.  Their  third  cousins,  the  Danes,  or 
Northmen,  were  as  enterprising  pirates  as  the  Sax- 
ons had  been.  They  landed  in  their  open  boats 
on  the  coast  of  Yorkshire  and  East  Anglia,  and 
burned  and  plundered  in  their  turn.  They  also 
made  permanent  settlements,  and  their  king,  Ca- 
nute, became  overlord  of  England.  This  historic 
fact  is  mentioned  because  the  Danish  or  Norse 
language  has  slightly  in.Huenced  English.  It  seems 
probable  that  at  that  time  the  Danes  and  Anglians 
could  understand  one  another's  language  imper- 
fectly. At  all  events,  there  was  no  difficulty,  at  a 
later  date,  in  the  reception  of  certain  Danish  forms 
into  the  nascent  tongue.  It  must  be  borne  in 
mind  also  that  the  language  of  the  different  dis- 
tricts of  England  was  different,  and  that  there  was 
a  southern,  northern,  and  midland  dialect,  each  of 
which  has  left  its  mark  on  the  agricultural  speech 
of  the  district  where  it  was  originally  spoken, 
the  southern  dialect  being  the  foundation  of  the 


SOURCES   OF    MODERN    ENGLISH    WORDS.       41 

English  we  speak.  Dialects,  if  isolated,  grow  into 
languages,  but  in  a  country  under  a  central  gov- 
ernment one  dialect  assumes  supremacy  as  the 
language  of  the  governing  class  and  of  educated 
people,  and  the  other  dialects  are  relegated  to  pro- 
vincial obscurity.  Thus  Scotland,  having  been 
an  independent  kingdom,  there  is  a  marked  differ- 
ence between  the  speech  of  Scotchmen  and  Eng- 
lishmen, whereas  the  dialect  of  Norfolk  or  Dorset 
is  confined  to  the  lower  classes.  Particular  events 
having  given  the  supremacy  to  the  Saxons,  arrd 
London  having  been  the  capital,  the  dialect  of 
the  Saxons  is  the  foundation  of  modern  English 
as  spoken  by  all  educated  people. 

In  1066,  England,  which  had  become  pretty  well 
consolidated,  was  invaded  by  the  Duke  of  Nor- 
mandy with  a  large  army  of  men  speaking  Norman 
French.  He  became  King  of  England,  and  his 
officers  became  the  local  feudal  lords  of  the  coun- 
try. For  a  period  the  Anglo-Saxon  tongue  lost 
its  position  as  the  language  of  the  governing  class 
and  of  culture.  The  Christian  priests,  except  in 
remote  country  places,  used  very  generally  either 
Latin  or  French,  and  one  or  the  other  vv'as  the  lan- 
guage of  law  and  of  literature.*     The  native  lan- 

*  Tlie  fact  that  Englishmen  obstinately  continued  to  speak 
English  for  two  hundred  years,  so  that  even  those  descend- 
ants of  the  Xormans  who  habitually  used  trench  wero 
finally  co.iwpelled  to  acquire  at  least  a  speaking  knowledge 


42       •  ENGLISH    WORDS. 

guage  was  of  course  spoken  by  the  body  of  the 
people,  but,  being  under  no  acknowledged  head- 
ship, began  to  change  rapidly.  Inflections  were 
dropped,  and  the  language  approached  rapidly  its 
present  simple  grammatical  structure.  During 
the  twelfth  and  thirteenth  centuries  the  course  of 
political  events  conspired  ;  first,  to  relieve  the  An- 
glo-Saxon from  the  restraints  which  a  conventional 
literary  standard  imposes  on  a  language ;  second, 
to  bring  it  back  under  the  yoke  after  a  period  of 
linguistic  freedom,  and  to  make  it  under  its  new 
form  a  strictly  national  language ;  third,  to  rein- 
force its  vocabulary  with  a  multitude  of  French 
words.  These  events  were  the  Conquest,  as  above 
mentioned,  and  the  inheritance  of  a  large  terri- 
tory, in  addition  to  Normandy,  which  the  kings 
of  England  acquired  in  France,  and  then  the  loss 
of  these  Continental  possessions,  particularly  the 
loss  of  Normandy,  by  King  John  in  1244,  after 
which  French  civilization  ceased  to  be  paramount 

of  English,  is  evident  from  the  following  quotation  from 
a  poem  of  the  fourteenth  century  : 

"  Latyn  also  y  trowe  can  nane, 
Bot  tho  that  hath  hit  of  schole  tane  ; 
Some  can  Frcnsch  and  no  Latyne, 
That  useth  hath  Court  and  dwelt  thereinne. 
And  some  can  of  Latyn  aparty, 
That  can  Frensch  full  febylly  : 
And  som  untherstondith  Englisch 
That  nother  can  Latyn  ne  Frensch, 
Bot  lerde  and  h'~L'de,  old  and  yone^, 
Allc  untherstoidith  J:^n/^liiih  ion~;-y 


SOURCES   OF    MODERN   ENGLISH   WORDS.        43 

in  England,  English  nationality  reappeared,  and 
the  English  language  took  definite  shape  and  as- 
sumed the  outlines  of  its  present  form.  Chaucer, 
who  died  in  1400,  is  not  only  the  first  writer  who 
is  intelligible  to  us,  but  the  first  whom  we  recog- 
nize as  distinctly  of  our  own  kin  in  spirit  and 
manner  and  speech. 

From  1060  to  1360  is  a  long  period  in  the  evo- 
lution of  a  language,  and  to  understand  the  de- 
tails of  the  great  movement  is  more  than  any  one 
not  a  specialist  can  hope  to  do.  The  changes 
during  this  period  were  so  great  that  we  can  fairly 
say  that  they  constitute,  not  the  development  of 
Anglo-Saxon,  but  the  birth  of  a  new  tongue.  The 
old  speech  furnished  the  skeleton — but  even  the 
skeleton  was  modified  —  and  the  most  important 
words,  so  that  the  more  excited  and  earnest  a 
man  is,  the  more  he  tends  to  use  Saxon  forms.  It 
furnished  also  what,  for  want  of  a  better  term,  we 
may  call  the  genius  or  spirit  of  the  language. 
This  is  rather  an  indefinite  expression,  but  we 
cannot  help  feeling  that  our  language  is  in  essen- 
tials and  manner  of  growth  a  Teutonic  language, 
though  vastly  richer  than  any  other  Teutonic 
tongue,  and  certainly  as  far  superior  in  scope  and 
power  to  Anglo-Saxon  as  English  civilization  is  to 
the  old  Saxon  civilization.  Of  the  great  number 
of  French  words  which  form  part  of  our  language, 
many  are  long  words  expressive  of  abstractions. 


44  ENGLISH    WORDS. 

and  are  held  in  reserve  for  special  service.  But, 
as  we  shall  see  hereafter,  there  are  many  short 
French  derivatives  which  form  part  of  our  every- 
day working  vocabulary.  English  is  more  than  a 
Teutonic  tongue  into  which  there  has  been  an  in- 
fusion of  foreign  words — it  is  English.  Its  char- 
acteristic is  force.  It  has  its  own  rhythm  quite 
different  from  that  of  Anglo-Saxon.  The  rhythm, 
or  natural  music,  is  a  distinctive  mark  of  a  lan- 
guage and  probably  closely  related  to  the  national 
character  of  the  people  who  speak  it.  There  is 
none  more  varied  and  vigorous  and  modern  than 
that  of  English.  It  is  evident  to  any  one  that  a 
truth  stated  in  one  language  has  an  entirely  differ- 
ent effect  if  translated  into  another.  This  is 
owing  to  the  great  power  of  form.  Language  is  a 
form,  and  as  Professor  Marsh  has  pointed  out,  it 
has  the  power  of  reacting  even  on  him  who  uses  it. 
One  who  habitually  thinks  in  French  will  in  time 
acquire  a  French  coloring  to  his  mind.  The  im- 
portance of  knowing  something  about  our  lan- 
guage, and  of  endeavoring  to  use  it  in  a  v,-ay 
conformable  to  its  true  character,  is  very  great, 
because  it  has  this  formative  power.  The  use  of 
affected  language  is  not  only  a  sign  but  a  cause 
of  mental  aft'ectation.  I  would  not  go  so  far  as 
to  say  that  this  malady  can  be  cured  by  llie 
study  of  the  derivation  of  words,  but  at  least 
such  study  is  one   means   of  increasing  our  re- 


SOURCES   OF    MODERN    ENGLISH    WORDS.        45 

spect   for    our  most  valuable    inheritance  —  our 
mother-tongue. 

We  will  now  examine  briefly  some  groups  of 
words  based  on  derivations,  and  also  some  groups 
based  on  the  use  of  various  social  and  industrial 
classes.  The  small  and  comparatively  unimpor- 
tant group  derived  from  Celtic  words  will  claim 
our  attention  first,  because,  with  the  exception  of 
a  still  smaller  group  called  "  Latin  of  the  first 
period,"  it  constitutes  the  oldest  addition  to  the 
Anglo-Saxon  vocabulary  from  any  non -Teutonic 
source. 


CHAPTER   V. 

ENGLISH    WORDS    DERIVED    FROM    CELTIC. 

Philologists  differ  greatly  in  tlieir  estimates  of 
the  number  of  words  in  English  derived  from  the 
Celtic  tongues.  The  reasons  for  this  general  lack 
of  agreement  are  :  First ;  Celtic  and  Anglo-Saxon 
are  both  Aryan  languages,  and  when  a  word  is 
found  in  one  of  these  languages  resembling  a  word 
of  the  same  general  meaning  in  the  other,  the  re- 
semblance may  be  due  to  the  fact  that  both  are 
descendants  from  the  same  word  in  the  Proto- 
Aryan  tongue.  Second ;  the  word  in  question 
may  have  been  transferred  twice,  first  from  the 
Saxon  into  the  Celtic,  and  then  in  its  disguised 
form  readopted  into  Anglo-Saxon,  so  that  what 
seems  a  Celtic  derivative  may  from  another  point 
of  view  prove  to  be  a  genuine  ancestral  P^nglish 
word.  Third ;  the  paucity  of  Celtic  documents 
during  the  period  when  some  interchange  of 
words  might  have  taken  place,  renders  it  difficult, 
by  reason  of  lack  of  evidence,  to  decide  questions 
of  oriirin. 


ENGLISH    WORDS    DERIVED    FROM    CELTIC.       47 

As  a  matter  of  course,  the  two  races  were  bit- 
terly hostile,  and  had  little  friendly  intercourse 
with  each  other.  The  Britons  hated  the  Saxons 
as  invaders,  and  the  Saxons  despised  the  Britons 
as  a  conquered  and  inferior  people;  nor  are  these 
racial  feelings  entirely  eradicated  on  either  side 
at  the  present  day.  But  the  displacement  of  the 
Britons  by  the  Saxons  and  Angles  was  a  slow 
process,  extending  over  at  least  two  centuries, 
and  some  intercourse  must  have  taken  place  in 
the  intervals  of  war.  Indeed,  in  one  instance  a 
body  of  Britons  acted  as  the  allies  of  one  tribe  of 
the  Angles  in  their  quarrel  with  another. 

Before  saying  anything  about  the  few  words 
which  we  have  undoubtedly  borrowed  from  the 
Cymric  or  the  Gaelic  branches  of  the  Celtic 
tongue,  it  will  be  as  well  to  notice  that  every 
spoken  language  embraces  minor  divisions  or 
subvarieties.  Thus  Max  M  iiller  distinguishes  four 
kinds  of  English.     He  says  : 

"  There  is  one  kind  of  English  which  is  spoken 
in  Parliament,  in  the  pulpit,  and  in  the  courts  of 
law,  which  may  be  called  the  public,  the  ordinary 
and  recognized  English. 

"The  colloquial  English,  as  used  by  educated 
people,  differs  but  slightly  from  this  Parliamentary 
English,  though  it  admits  greater  freedom  of  con- 
struction and  a  more  familiar  phraseology. 

"  The    literary    English,   again,   requires    still 


48  ENGLISH    WORDS. 

greater  grammatical  accuracy,  and  admits  a  num- 
ber of  uncommon,  poetical,  and  even  antiquated 
expressions  which  would  seem  strange  in  ordinary 
conversation. 

"  The  dialectic  English  is  by  no  means  extinct. 
The  peasants  in  every  part  of  England,  Scot- 
land, and  Ireland,  though  they  understand  a  ser- 
mon and  read  their  newspaper,  both  of  which  are 
written  in  ordinary  English,  continue  to  speak 
their  own  language  among  themselves,  a  language 
full  of  ancient  and  curious  expressions,  which 
often  throw  much  light  on  the  history  of  classical 
English.  These  dialects  have  of  late  been  most 
carefully  examined,  and  this  is  a  branch  of  study 
in  which  everybody,  if  only  he  has  a  well-trained 
ear,  is  able  to  render  most  valuable  assistance. 

"Lastly,  in  discussing  special  subjects  we  are 
driven  to  use  a  large  number  of  fci/inical,  foreign, 
and  even  slang  expressions,  many  of  which  are 
quite  foreign  to  the  ordinary  speaker.'' 

It  is  evident  that  tliere  are  many  subdivisions 
under  each  of  the  above  heads.  The  orduiary 
English  is  much  the  same  all  over  the  country  at 
any  one  period,  but  differs  greatly  in  different 
generations.  Lord  Ashburton's  communication 
and  Mr.  Webster's  reply  are  made  up  of  about 
the  same  class  of  words,  but  a  State  paper  or  a 
sermon  of  the  seventeenth  century  contains  many 
expressions  which  we  now  recognize  as  antiquated. 


ENGLISH    WORDS    DERIVED    FROM    CELTIC.       49 

The  colloquial  English  changes  mucli  more  rapidly, 
and  varies,  not  only  in  successive  generations,  but 
in  different  parts  of  the  country.  In  particular  it 
differs  widely  in  this  country  and  England  to-day, 
and  should  so  differ,  since  in  each  it  has  its  own 
principles  of  growth.  Colloquial  English  reflects 
national  character,  and  if  national  character  is 
individual,  it,  too,  must  be  individual.  If  national 
character  is  imitative  and  second-hand,  then  im- 
ported phrases  and  words  will  mark  colloquial 
expression. 

Literary  English  changes  much  more  slowly, 
and  does  not,  or  at  least  should  not,  vary  in  differ- 
ent localities,  for  a  writer  must  have  at  least  some 
acquaintance  with  the  entire  vocabulary  of  his 
period,  and  must  read  the  literature  of  his  time 
wherever  it  is  produced.  It  is  true  that  each 
school  is  apt  to  run  to  a  particular  set  of  words, 
and  a  master  like  Tennyson  or  Browning  some- 
times introduces  a  number  of  new  words  and 
phrases  which  speedily  become  the  literary  fash- 
ion. Writers  of  power  are  still  more  likely  to  res- 
cue from  oblivion  some  stray  archaisms.  But  the 
literary  language  is  the  standard,  and  is  held  by 
conservative  influences  much  more  than  it  is  dis- 
turbed by  innovating  forces.  The  laws  of  liter- 
ary art  are  always  the  same,  though  the  ideas 
which  literature  must  present  are  progressive. 

Dialects  have  a  strange  persistence  when  once 
4 


50  ENGLISH    WORDS. 

established.  The  very  essence  of  a  dialect  is, 
however,  that  it  differs  from  other  dialects.  Thus 
we  have  Yorkshire,  Dorset,  Norfolk,  Scotch,  and 
Irish,  each  with  its  own  racy,  antique  flavor. 
Imperfect  English,  as  spoken  by  Germans  and 
Frenchmen,  is  not  entitled  to  be  regarded  as  a 
dialect,  nor  are  we  willing  to  recognize  technical 
English  as  a  variety,  although  the  nomenclaturs 
of  botany  and  chemistry  is  unintelligible  to  those 
who  have  not  made  a  special  study  of  it.  Tech- 
nical English  is  simply  ordinary  English  applied 
to  special  subject-matter. 

Colloquial  English  and  dialectic  English  are  full 
of  what  we  call  slang  expressions,  started  by  the 
whims  of  individuals.  If  these  are  needed  or  "fill 
a  known  want" — to  use  a  slang  expression — they 
are  sometimes  retained,  and,  after  a  time,  admitted 
into  the  ordinary  English  and  even  into  literary 
English  when  they  have  proved  their  value.  This 
was  the  case  with  moh  and  fun,  which  are  less 
than  a  century  old,  and  doubtless  will  be  the 
case  with  that  very  useful  word,  crank.  To  the 
philologist  a  word  is  interesting  as  a  specimen, 
and  slang,  even  low  slang,  may  have  a  scien- 
■  tific  value.  Dialectic  survivals,  as  in  our  New 
England  speech,  may  illustrate  a  law  or  prove  an 
ancient  usage.  It  is  not  tlie  dignity  of  a  word 
that  measures  its  worth  as  an  illustration. 

Returning  to   the  consideration  of  the  words 


ENGLISH    WORDS    DERIVED    FROM    CELTIC.       5 1 

we  have  borrowed  from  the  Celtic  tongues,  we 
must  notice  that  most  of  them  are  of  low  origin 
and  belong  to  colloquial  or  ordinary  English. 
None  of  them  express  abstract  ideas.  The  fol- 
lowing were  taken  into  old  French  from  the  Celtic, 
for  French  is  not  entirely  of  Latin  origin,  but 
contains  some  words  taken  from  the  Celtic 
tongues  of  old  Gaul,  and  soma  from  the  Frank- 
ish,  the  language  of  the  Teutonic  conquerors  of 
France.  From  the  French  some  of  these  passed 
into  English.  The  list  is  not  a  long  one  (about 
seventy  words),  and  contains,  among  others,  bill- 
iards, brisket,  car,  carry,  carpenter,  quay,  bobbin, 
cloak,  baggage,  gravel,  varlet,  valet,  vassal,  piece. 
Some  of  these  words  are  not  found  in  modern 
French,  as  brisket,  cloak,  carry,  which  are  obsolete 
in  France,  though  carriere,  for  career,  or  the  path 
along  which  one  is  carried  to  success  or  failure 
has  been  retained.  Carpenter  meant  originally 
a  maker  of  cars  or  wagons,  and  was  taken  into 
low  Latin  as  carpentarius,  a  wood-worker,  thence 
into  French,  thence  into  English  after  the  Con- 
quest. Baggage  is  cognate  with  our  English  bag, 
and  illustrates  the  point  before  alluded  to,  that 
an  old  English  word  and  a  Celtic  word  may 
be  much  alike,  since  both  are  of  Aryan  origin. 
Baggage  is  undoubtedly  French  from  Celtic.  We 
should  not  have  the  well-known  phrase  "bag  and 
baggage"  were  both  words  from  the  same  tongue. 


52  ENGLISH    WORDS. 

The  words  basket,  brag,  bog,  dm  id,  cabin,  flan- 
nel, bump,  dagger,  peak  (found  also  in  French), 
glen,  and  some  fifty  others  are  of  Celtic  origin, 
but  came  into  English  at  an  early  date. 

The  words  bard,  brogue,  brogan,  clan,  fun,  collie, 
cosey,  plaid,  shamrock,  banshee,  and  whiskey  are 
from  the  Celtic  tongues  of  Ireland,  Scotland,  or 
Wales,  but  they  are  of  comparatively  recent  ap- 
pearance in  English.  Brogue  means  a  stout, 
coarse  shoe,  but  has  taken  up  the  meaning  of 
dialectic  pronunciation.  ^Milton  uses  clan,  and 
Goldsmith/}/;/.  Plaid  is  in  Johnson's  Dictionary  ; 
it  is  undoubtedly  Gaelic,  and  is  cognate  with 
'Lzimpellis  (a  skin)  and  the  English  fell.  Spenser 
uses  the  word  shamrock,  but  introduces  it  as  an 
Irish  word.  Sir  Walter  Scott  is  responsible  for 
the  introduction  of  a  number  of  Scotch  words. 
Of  course  many  names  of  the  great  geographical 
divisions — lakes,  rivers,  mountains — are  of  Celtic 
origin,  and  so  are  many  surnames.  These  will 
be  noticed  hereafter.  The  names  of  the  indig- 
enous weeds  and  flowers  of  England  are  some- 
times Celtic,  like  cockel.  Both  of  these  points 
testify  to  the  antiquity  of  the  Celtic  occupation. 

The  names  of  many  of  the  simplest  kitchen 
utensils  and  materials  are  of  Celtic  origin,  as : 
spider,  pic,  bucket,  bung,  curd,  crock,  crockery,  griddle, 
gruel,  mop,  kettle,  kale,  mug,  noggin,  posset,  pudding, 
slab  —  iif- the  sense  of  viscous,  ''make  the  gruel 


ENGLISH    WORDS    DERIVED   FROM    CELTIC.       53 

thick  and  slab" — skilkt,  pan*  zxvd  many  others 
of  similar  character. 

The  presence  of  this  marked  Celtic  element  in 
kitchen  nomenclature  suggests  that  Celtic  cap- 
tives were  held  as  household  slaves  by  the  Saxon 
conquerorS;  and  that  these  preserved  and  handed 
down  a  number  of  their  native  words  in  familiar 
daily  use.  This  inference  is  strengthened  by  the 
fact  that  the  name  which  the  Saxons  gave  the 
English  Britons —  We':c/i,  or  strangers — was  the 
same  word  they  used  for  slave,  weal  meaning 
male  slave,  and  ivylen  meaning  female  slave. 

Again,  the  slang  of  the  lowest  class  in  Lon- 
don, the  vernacular  of  the  Artful  Dodger  and 
Charley  Bates  in  Oliver  Twisty  contains  a  num- 
ber of  peculiar  expressions,  some  of  which  are  no 
doubt  of  ancient  Celtic  origin.  Thus,  in  that 
argot  a  magistrate  is  a  "  beak,"'  from  the  Celtic 
beach ;  '•  twig"'  is  from  tiiig,  to  understand  ;  "  cove '' 
from  coove^  a  courteous  person ;  ''  hook  it  "  is  from 
thiigad,  begone;  " masher,"  from  vieas,  elegant; 
''brick,''  from  brig/i,  a  courageous  person;  "cut 
your  stick,"  from  cuit  as  teach,  leave  the  house. 
To  '■  kick  the  bucket,"  to  '"make  your  luck)-,"  and 
to  '"cheese  it""t  have, very  likely,  origins  of  the  same 

*  Pail,  though  taken  into  English  from  the  Welsh,  may 
have  been  taken  by  the  Welsh  from  the  Latin /<7//«(7. 

f  Query  :  ^^'hy  is  a  constable  called  a  cop  in  the  same 
slang?     It  can  hardly  be  because  he  serves  a  capias. 


54  ENGLISH    WORDS. 

character  —  that  is,  they  may  be  Celtic  phrases 
assimilated  in  pronunciation  to  English  words 
with  which  they  have  no  connection  in  meaning. 
"Cheese  it"  is  conjectured  to  be  from  French 
cesser  (to  cease),  which  seems  an  unlikely  source 
for  a  slang  phrase,  as  "  cease  "  is  a  dignified,  book- 
ish sort  of  a  word  to  fall  so  low.  ''Cheese.''  in 
the  expression  "that's  the  cheese,"  is  probably 
Gypsy,  from  the  word  meaning  "thing'"  in  the 
Romany  dialect. 

The  presence  of  this  singular  element  in  low 
London  slang  affords  at  least  a  presumption  that 
when  the  Saxons  took  possession  of  London,* 
then  an  important  Celtic  city,  a  certain  number  of 
Celts  of  the  lowest  class  were  unable  to  remove, 
and  so  perpetuated  a  few  remnants  of  their  lan- 
guage in  the  lowest  stratum  of  society.  How- 
ever, it  must  be  admitted  that  this  lowest  class 
of  thieves  and  beggars  in  the  cities  of  the  Middle 
Ages  was  of  such  an  anomalous  character  that 
it  is  dangerous  to  draw  any  inferences  from  such 
fragments  of  its  speech  as  may  have  come  down  to 
us.  Again,  slang  is  so  lawless  in  its  changes,  and 
is  so  rarely  recorded,  that  slang  dictionaries  are 
full  of  conjectures.     All  of  the  above  derivations 

*'•  The  theory  that  London  was  entirely  abandoned  by 
tlie  Celts  is  hardly  tenable  ;  but  even  if  it  were,  the  Saxons 
in  oceupying  the  deserted  city  would  bring  Celtic  slaves 
with  them. 


ENGLISH    ^yORDS    DERIVED    FROM    CELTIC.       55 

are  disputed.  Still,  there  seems  to  be  enough  of 
the  Celtic  element  to  support  the  presumption, 
though  perhaps  not  very  strongly. 

Other  English  words  of  probable  Celtic  origin 
are  habe^  bad,  bald,  bludgeon,  boast,  clock,  coax,  cob, 
crag,  crease,  drudge,  gown,  hassock,  lad,  lass,  racket, 
(a  noise — a  tennis  racket  is  Arabic),  flimsy.  For 
a  full  list  Skcat's  Etymological  Dictionary,  p.  757, 
may  be  consulted.  The  list  is  not  very  long, 
nor  does  it  embrace  many  important  words. 
For  some  reason  Celts  never  hold  their  mother- 
tongue  as  tenaciously  as  do  Teutons.  Both 
Welsh  and  Irish  seem  likely  to  become  extinct 
as  spoken  languages  in  the  next  century.  The 
Celtic  blood  is  widely  diffused,  and  contributes 
valuable  elements  to  the  English  character,  but 
our  linguistic  debt  to  the  race  is  slight.  It  is 
painful  to  reflect  that  these  ancient  tongues,  repre- 
senting the  speech  of  one  of  the  oldest  branches 
of  the  Aryan  stock,  must  disappear  and  leave  no 
modern  representatives ;  but  such  seems  to  be 
their  destiny. 

For  a  thorough  modern  examination  of  this  question  see 
Skeat's  English  Etymology,  chap.  xxii. 


CHAPTER  VI. 

CLASSES    OF    LATIN    DERIVATIVES. 

We  will  now  take  up  the  Latin  and  Romance 
element  in  our  vocabulary.  This  is  very  much 
the  most  important  element,  constituting  as  it 
does  over  one-half  of  our  dictionary  words  and  a 
large  proportion  of  those  in  actual  use.  It  is  as 
early  an  element  as  the  Celtic,  for  Saxon  took  up 
some  Latin  words  even  before  the  invasion  of 
Britain.  A  large  number  of  Romance  words  came 
into  the  language  from  the  French,  and  a  few  from 
Italian,  Spanish,  and  Portuguese.  Later  the  theo- 
logical dissensions  of  the  seventeenth  century 
brought  about  the  introduction  of  a  good  many 
Latin  words  directly  from  the  Latin  tongue.  By 
far  the  greater  number  came  from  the  French  or 
Norman-French  during  the  twelfth  and  thirteenth 
centuries,  the  formative  period  of  the  language, 
and  contributed  largely  to  the  character  of  the 
new  tongue.  Sometimes  the  same  Latin  word 
was  adopted  into  English  twice,  and  took  two 
meanings,  classic  and  romantic.     Thus, //w  and 


CLASSES   OF    LATIN    DERIVATIVES.  57 

punish  are  both  from  the  Latin  poejia,  the  latter 
through  the  French  ptinir,  being  by  two  or  three 
hundred  years  the  younger  English  word.  Com- 
pare also  chalice  and  calix,  cadence  and  chance,  re- 
gal and  7-oyal. 

Again,  there  are  in  our  language  words  that 
have,  to  quote  Professor  Meiklejohn,  "  made  their 
appearances — once  through  Latin,  once  through 
Norman -French,  and  once  through  ordinary 
French."  These  seem  to  live  quietly  side  by 
side  in  our  language,  and  no  one  asks  by  what 
claim  they  are  here.  They  are  useful ;  that  is 
enough.  Examples  of  such  triplets  are  hgal,  loy- 
al, and  leal — leal  used  in  Scotland,  where  it  has  a 
settled  abode  in  the  phrase  "  the  land  of  the  leal  " 
— -fidelity,  faithfulness,  and  fealty.  Faithfulness  has 
two  English  suffixes  on  a  Latin  Avord. 

The  Latin  words  in  our  language  have  been 
classified  in  various  ways,  the  common  method 
being  by  dates  and  periods.  Of  the  classifica- 
tions by  periods  that  given  by  Professor  Meikle- 
john is  perhaps  as  satisfactory  as  any  other.  He 
makes  four  periods. 

Latin  of  the  First  Period.  —  This  covers 
Latin  words  left  in  Britain  by  the  Romans,  and 
strictly  numbers  but  six  words:  castra,  strata, 
colonia,  fossa,  partus,  and  vallum,  lliese  words 
appear  only  in  geographical  names.  The  word 
castra  has  been  colored  by  the  usage  of  the  local- 


58  ENGLISH    WORDS. 

ity  where  it  was  applied.  Thus,  in  the  north  it 
is  sounded  hard,  as  in  Lancaster,  Doncaster,  Tad- 
caster.  In  the  jMidhmd  counties  it  takes  the 
softer  form,  ccster,  as  in  Leicester,  Towcester,  and 
in  the  extreme  vrest  and  south  it  takes  the  still 
softer  form  of  c/iestcr,  as  in  Chester,  Manchester, 
Winchester,  and  others.  The  first  syllable  in 
these  words  is  the  Celtic  name  of  the  locality  or 
river  by  which  the  camp  was  distinguished. 
Strata  has  also  taken  different  forms  in  different 
parts  of  England,  but  has  always  been  a  prefix. 
One  of  the  first  things  the  Romans  did  was  to 
drive  a  strongly- built  military  road  from  Rich- 
borough,  near  Dover,  northward  to  the  River  Dee, 
where  they  formed  a  permanent  camp,  Castra 
Statwa,  which  is  still  called  Chester.  This  road 
was  called  the  ''  street,"  and  by  the  Saxons  "  Wat- 
ling  Street."  The  word  strata,  in  the  forms  of 
strat,  strad,  strd,  and  strcat,  is  a  part  of  the  mod- 
ern names  of  many  towns,  all  of  which  are  on 
this  or  some  other  great  Roman  road.  Thus,  we 
have  Stratford -on- Avon,  Stratton,  Stradbroke, 
Stretton,  Stretford,  and  Streatham,  the  other  syl- 
lables in  these  cases  being  Saxon.  Colonia  we 
find  in  Colne,  Lincoln,  and  others  ;  fossa  in  Foss- 
way,  Fossbrooke,  and  Fossbridge  ;  partus  in  Ports- 
mouth and  Bridgeport,  and  vallum  in  the  words 
wall,  bailey  and  bailiff.  The  Normans  called  the 
two   courts   in  front   of   their  castles   the  inner 


CLASSES    OF    LATIN    DERIVATIVES.  59 

and  outer  baileys^  and  the  officer  in  charge  of 
them,  the  bailiff*  Mile,  pine,  pose,  port,  wick  (a 
village),  and  wine  probably  entered  the  English 
language  before  a.d.  500,  and  therefore  belong 
to  this  class  in  one  sense. 

Latin  Element  of  the  Second  Period. — In 
the  year  596  Pope  Gregory  the  Great  sent  over 
to  Kent  a  missionary  called  Augustine  with  forty 
monks.  They  were  received  by  the  King  of 
Kent,  allowed  to  settle  in  Canterbury,  and  to 
build  a  small  cathedral  there.  This  mission  and 
the  churches  that  grew  out  of  it  brought  into  old 
English  a  number  of  words  from  the  Latin,  most 
of  which  have  survived  in  a  different  form. 
Among  them  are :  postol,  from  apostolus  (a  person 
sent) ;  biscop,  from  episcopus  (an  overseer) ;  calc, 
from  calix  (a  cup)  •,  clerc,  from  clericus  (an  ordained 
member  of  the  Church)  ;  munic,  from  monachiis  (a 
solitary  person)  •  preost,  irora  presbyter  (an  elder)  j 
aelinesse,  from  eleemosmie  (alms)  ;t  regol,  from  rcg- 
nla  (a  rule).     To  this  period  also  belongs  the  in- 

*  There  is  some  question  about  bail,  bailiff,  and  bail- 
7uick.  It  is  not  certain  that  they  are  derived  from  valltan 
(an  enclosing  wall).  The  root  is  obscure,  though  certainly 
Latin,  but  possibly  later  than  the  first  period,  and  through 
the  Norman-French  law-jargon. 

f  Apostle,  bishop,  clerk,  monk,  priest,  and  alms  come  to 
us  really  from  Greek  words,  but  through  tlie  Latin.  We 
may  note,  too,  that  presbyter  is  not  "  priest  writ  large,"  as 
Milton  said,  X'iwi  priest  \i, presbyter  \<x\\.  small. 


6o  ENGLISH    WORDS. 

troduction  of  the  words  butter,  cheese,  fig,  cedar, 
pear,  peach,  lettuce,  lily,  pepper,  pease,  camel,  lion, 
elephant,  oyster,  trout,  pound,  ounce,  candle,  table, 
marble.  We  cannot  be  certain,  however,  that  some 
of  these  words  were  not  introduced  into  Anglo- 
Saxon  before  the  migration  from  the  Continent, 
since  we  have  no  complete  glossary  of  all  the  dia- 
lects spoken  by  the  invaders. 

There  is  one  word  of  this  or  an  earlier  period 
that  is  probably  of  Greek  origin,  and  that  is 
church.  It  seems  to  have  been  introduced  very 
early  into  all  the  Teutonic  tongues.  The  expla- 
nation usually  given  for  the  appearance  of  this 
word  at  so  early  a  date  is,  that  Ulphilas,  a  mis- 
sionary from  Constantinople,  translated  the  Gos- 
pels for  the  use  of  the  Moesian  Goths,  among 
whom  he  labored  in  the  fourth  century,  and  find- 
ing no  equivalent  for  church  in  their  language, 
transferred  the  word  from  the  Greek,  and  so  in- 
troduced it  was  taken  up  by  the  other  Teutonic 
tribes.  This  is  probably  the  true  reason  for  its 
adoption,  unless  the  Goths  and  other  Teutons, 
who  were  allies  of  the  Roman  Empire  and  served 
in  its  legions,  had  already  used  the  Greek  name 
for  a  building  ^vith  wliich  they  must  have  been 
familiar,  and  so  Ulphilas  found  the  word  ready 
for  his  purpose. 

Latin  of  tmk  Third  Period.  —  This  is  in 
realitv  French  of  the  varietv  gencrallv  called  Xor- 


CLASSES    OF    LATIN    DERIVATIVES.  6 1 

man-French,  which  has  its  own  pecuUarities  both 
in  spelling  and  pronunciation.  At  the  period  of 
the  Norman  Conquest  Parisian  French  did  not 
hold  its  present  position  of  literary  supremacy. 
French  grew  out  of  the  spoken  dialects  of  Latin, 
and  the  Norman-French,  when  it  came  to  be  writ- 
ten, spelled  peuple^  people ;  loyal,  leal ;  rojaume, 
realm ;  royal,  real,  and  so  on.  The  Norsemen,  to 
whom  the  valley  of  the  Seine  was  ceded  in  912, 
were,  of  course,  originally  Teutons,  but  when  they 
settled  in  France  they  learned  in  course  of  time 
to  speak  French  of  the  kind  called  Norman- 
French.  This  language  was  used  in  the  English 
Court  before  the  Norman  Conquest,  under  Ed- 
ward the  Confessor,  who  came  to  the  throne  in 
1042.  He  had  been  educated  at  the  Norman 
Court,  and  insisted  that  the  nobles  about  him 
should  speak  French. 

William,  Duke  of  Normandy,  conquered  Eng- 
land pretty  thoroughly,  and  as  he  was  a  great 
administrator,  covered  the  country  with  the  feudal 
executive  machinery.  Thus,  Norman-French  be- 
came the  language  of  the  governmental  and  eccle- 
siastical world,  of  the  universities,  and,  conjointly 
with  Latin,  of  literature.  The  people  held  fast 
to  their  own  tongue,  nor  did  it  cease  entirely  to 
be  written,  but  it  had  no  central  standard,  and  of 
course  began  to  change  rapidly.  A  series  of  im- 
portant political  events,  culminating  with  the  loss 


62  ENGLISH    WORDS. 

of  Normandy  in  1204,  detached  England  from 
France,  drew  all  the  people  of  England  into  a 
national  organization,  and  aroused  a  national 
sentiment.  The  fact  that  the  two  languages  were 
both  spoken  in  England  for  so  many  years,  one 
by  the  upper  class  and  the  other  by  the  body  of 
the  people,  would  naturally  result  in  the  vernacu- 
lar English  taking  a  number  of  words  from  the 
courtly  Norman.  In  1272  Robert  of  Gloucester 
wrote  a  metrical  chronicle  in  English  and  used  a 
large  number  of  French  words.  All  others  writ- 
ers of  the  transition  period,  Robert  of  Brun,  Laya- 
mon,  etc.,  use  French  words  in  varying  proportions, 
though  Layamon  (1155)  is  almost  purely  Saxon 
in  his  vocabulary.  The  triumph  of  English  may 
be  said  to  be  marked  by  an  Act  of  Parliament, 
passed  in  1362  under  Edward  III.,  by  which  it  was 
enacted  that  English  should  be  used  in  the  Law 
Courts.  Previous  to  this  the  statement  or  plead- 
ings had  been  made  in  English,  but  the  judgment 
entered  in  Latin.  Chaucer  was  born  about  1340 
and  died  in  1400,  and  his  admirable  poems,  writ- 
ten in  English,  contain  about  the  same  propor- 
tion of  words  of  French  derivation  as  is  used  by 
a  modern  writer,  and  mark  the  firm  establishment 
of  a  new  language,  a  language  of  composite  vo- 
cabulary but  of  Teutonic  structure.  The  English 
accepted  no  French  idioms,  or  at  least  very  few, 
though    they   took    up    many   thousand    French 


CLASSES    OF    LATIN    DERIVATIVES.  63 

words.  Consequently,  we  are  to-day  at  liberty  to 
use  as  many  Latin  words  as  we  like,  but  few  Latin 
constructions,  if  we  wish  to  speak  or  write  English. 

The  words  brought  into  the  language  by  the 
Normans  are  nearly  all  those  connected  in  any 
way  with  the  governing  or  more  important  social 
class.  Nearly  all  the  vocabulary  of  knight-er- 
rantry and  feudalism  is  of  French  origin.  Such 
w'ords  are  arms,  armor,  assault,  joust,  lance,  shield, 
greaves,  page,  mistress,  homage,  fealty,  esquire,  her- 
ald. Vassal  comes  from  7'assus,  a  Celtic  word 
meaning  man,  introduced  into  French.  The  same 
word  gave  us  also  va7-let  and  valet.  Scutcheon 
meant  originally  shield,  scutu?n.  Then  it  came  to 
mean  heraldic  devices  painted  on  the  shield. 
The  word  is  used  by  carpenters  in  the  original 
sense  of  a  shield,  to  designate  the  plate  of  metal 
surrounding  the  key-hole  and  shielding  the  wood 
from  injury.  The  terms  connected  with  archery — 
that  is,  the  radical  terms,  bow,  arrotvs,  holt,  hou.-- 
sfring,  etc. —  are  Saxon,  though  the  Normans 
added  some  technical  terms  referring  to  the  orna- 
mental details  of  the  art. 

This  fact  shows  that  the  Saxons  were  archers 
before  the  Conquest,  or  rather  bowmen,  since 
archer  is  the  Norman  w^ord  from  arc,  a  bow,  and 
bowjnan  is  pure  English.  The  practice  of  arch- 
ery was,  however,  greatly  improved  under  Nor- 
man rule. 


64  ENGLISH    WORDS. 

All  the  words  connected  with  hunting  as  a 
sport  are  Norman,  and  so  are  the  names  of  many 
of  the  game-birds  and  animals.  But  a  deer,  a 
hart,  and  a  stag  remained  Saxon,  the  word  ccrf 
never  taking  root  in  England.  The  Saxons  were 
too  familiar  with  the  deer  to  give  up  the  name, 
but  the  word  venison,  from  renari  (to  hunt\  is 
French.  Quarry,  as  a  place  from  which  to  take 
stones  for  building,  is  French — the  Normans  were 
great  architects ;  but  quarry,  a  hunting  term,  is 
from  another  source,  the  French  guer  from  cor 
(the  heart),  which  was  given  to  the  dogs.  Quarry, 
in  the  other  signification,  is  from  quadrare  (to 
square). 

Nearly  all  the  French  words  of  these  classes 
have  been  relegated  to  poetry,  or  have  become 
antiquated  by  the  change  of  methods  of  war  and 
hunting.  Arju,  shield,  standard,  forest,  are  words 
in  common  use,  but  some  hundreds  of  others  of 
this  class  are  either  entirely  obsolete  or  are  to  be 
found  only  in  the  list  of  literary  or  poetical  words. 
To  many  of  them  a  tinge  of  affectation  attaches. 
Under  no  circumstances  can  we  now  call  a  horse 
a  courser  or  charger,  though,  for  that  matter,  the 
radical  English  word  steed,  applied  to  stud,  is 
equally  obsolete.  Brace,  as  applied  to  a  couple 
of  birds,  has  held  its  place  very  well.  It  is  de- 
rived from  the  old  French  brace  (an  arm),  from 
which  the  derived  meanin^rs  of  sustaining  or  brae- 


CLASSES    OF    LATIN    DERIVATIVES.  65 

ing  up  and  encircling  in  the  arms,  or  embracing, 
flow  naturally.  The  meaning  of  brace,  or  couple, 
possibly  comes  from  the  fact  that  we  have  two 
arms,  possibly  because  a  pair  of  birds  were  tied 
together  with  a  string.  In  the  same  w^y  leas k  (a 
thong  to  hold  dogs)  got  the  signification  of  three, 
since  three  dogs  were  usually  tied  together.* 

The  old  romances  ascribe  the  invention  of  the 
vocabulary  of  the  chase  to  Sir  Tristram,  and  the 
ATorte  d' Arthur  says  : 

"  Mesemeth  alle  gentylmen  that  beren  old 
armes  oughte  of  ryght  to  honour  Syre  Tristram 
for  the  godly  termes  that  gentylmen  have  and 
use,  and  shall  to  the  day  of  dome,  that  thereby  in 
a  manner  all  men  maye  discover  a  gentylman  fro 
a  yoman,  and  from  a  yoman  a  vylane.  For  he 
that  gentyl  is  wylle  drawe  hym  unto  gentyl  tatches, 
and  to  foUowe  the  customes  of  noble  gentylmen." 

The  Book  of  St.  Albans,  first  printed  in  i486, 
is  very  full  on  the  subject  of  the  technical  terms 
of  the  chase.  These  are  nearly  all  Norman  words. 
This  precision  in  the  use  of  terms  relating  to 
hunting    is    still    characteristic    of    Englishmen, 

*  Leash  once  meant  a  brace  and  a  half  (see  Shak.,  King 
Henry  IV.  Part  I.,  Act  II.,  Scene  iv.,  line  7)  :  "Sirrah, 
I  am  sworn  brother  to  a  leash  of  drawers,  and  can  call 
them  all  by  their  Christian  names,  as — Tom,  Dick,  and 
Francis."  Now  it  has  gone  back  to  the  original  meaning 
of  the  thong,  and  usually  binds  I-lVO  dogs  together,  not  ihrcc. 


66  ENGLISH    WORDS. 

though  SO  many  of  the  old  words  have  become 
obsolete.  The  Normans  carried  this  affectation 
to  an  excess.  Thus,  Dame  Juliana  Berners,  the 
reputed  author  of  the  Book  of  St.  Albans,  tells  us 
that  in  gentle  speech  it  is  said  that "  the  \\d.\\kjouk- 
ei/i,  not  sleepeth ;  she  refonr7ncth  her  feders,  and 
not  picketh  her  feders  ;  she  roivsith,  and  not  shak- 
eth  herselfe  ;  she  vian/el/vth,  and  not  stretchyth, 
when  she  putteth  her  legges  from  her  one  after 
another,  and  her  wynges  follow  her  legges  ;  and 
when  she  hath  mantylled  her  and  bryngeth  both 
her  wynges  togyder  over  her  backc,  ye  shall  say 
your  hawkye  ivarbdkth  her  wynges."  Further, 
v;e  are  told  \vc  must  not  use  names  of  multitudes 
promiscuously,  but  we  are  to  say  a  '"'  coiigrcgacion 
of  people,"  a  ''  Jioost  of  men,"  a  '"fcIysJiyppiiige  of 
yomen,"  and  a  '■'■  be^y  of  ladyes ;"  we  must  speak 
of  a  ^' Jicrde  of  dere,"  "sv;annys,"  '' crannys,"  or 
"wrenys,"  z.'"''  scgc  of  nyghtingales,"  a  '■"jlygJitc  of 
doves,"  a  '■'  datcryngc  of  choughes,"  a  '' prydc  of 
lyons,"  a  '■'■  sleut/ic  of  beercs,"  a  '' gagle  of  geys," 
a  '■'•  skulke  of  foxes,"  a  ''senile  of  frerys,"  a  " poti- 
tificality  of  prestys,"  and  ■^l'-'' siipcrfliiytc  of  nonnes  ;" 
and  so  of  other  human  and  brute  assemblages. 
\\\  like  manner,  in  dividing  game  for  the  table, 
the  animals  were  not  carved,  but  a  '•  dere  was 
broken,  a  goose  rc/yJ,  a  chckyny)7/i'x//tY/,  a  coney 
unlaced,  a  crane  dysplayed,  a  curlew  Jiujoynted,  a 
quallc  ivyngged,  a  lamb  sholdercd,  a  heron    dys- 


CLASSES    OF    LATIN    DERIVATIVES.  67 

i7ie)nb3red,  a  peacock  dysfygured,'''  etc.  A  strict 
observance  of  all  these  niceties  of  speech  was 
more  important  as  an  indication  of  good  breeding, 
or,  in  the  words  of  Dame  Juliana  Berners,  as  a 
'•  means  of  d3'slynguishing  gentylmen  from  ungen- 
tylmen,"  than  was  a  rigorous  conformity  to  the 
rules  of  grammar  or  even  to  those  of  the  moral 
law;  nor  would  it  be  difficult  to  find  even  now 
people  who  judge  others  by  a  similar  linguistic 
standard.  The  slang  of  "  society  "'  seems  to  be 
as  old  and  as  artificial  as  society  itself. 


CHAPTER  VII. 

ARTIFICIAL  CHARACTER    OF    THE    LATIN    ELEMENT. 

It  will  be  noticed  that  a  large  proportion  of 
the  artiiicially-used  words  mentioned  in  the  last 
chapter  are  Norman-French.  Even  now  if  we  set 
ourselves  to  work  in  cold  blood  to  force  words 
into  unnatural  uses  we  draw  our  material  from 
the  same  class.  Most  of  the  fanciful  expressions 
which  the  affected  and  self-conscious  literary  fash- 
ion called  Euphuism  brought  into  use,  come  from 
the  Latin  side  of  our  language.  It  is  difficult  to 
be  affected  in  any  Teutonic  tongue  unless,  in- 
deed, we  affect  a  plain,  unfinished  rusticity.  As 
we  shall  see  later,  a  large  number  of  Erench  de- 
rivatives have  become  thoroughly  anglicized,  but 
to  many  others  a  slight  flavor  of  affectation  still 
attaches.  We  may  notice,  too,  in  passing,  that  a 
certain  set  of  artificial  expressions  is  still  the 
shibboleth  of  fashionable  society,  just  as  it  was 
in  tlie  time  of  Dame  Juliana  lierners.  Tliese  are 
generally  manufactured  in  London,  but  the  vo- 
cabulary is  so  limited  as  greatly  to  restrict  con- 


ARTIFICIAL    CHARACTER    OF    LATIN    ELEMENT.     69 

versation  among  those  who  use  it.  The  society 
vocabulary  of  the  fifteenth  century  seems  to  have 
been  much  less  meagre  than  is  that  of  the  last 
quarter  of  the  nineteenth. 

A  great  body  of  Norman-French  words  which 
have  been  permanently  adopted  are  those  apper- 
taining to  the  legal  and  ecclesiastical  professions 
and  to  philosophical  conceptions.  These  classes 
of  words,  especially  the  second  and  third,  fre- 
quently come  direct  from  the  Latin,  which  re- 
mained till  the  eighteenth  century  the  language 
of  scholars  and  theologians  all  over  the  Christian 
world.  Milton  wrote  his  controversial  tracts  in 
Latin.  We  will  revert  to  these  words  under  the 
head  of  words  of  the  trades  and  professions. 
Nearly  all  titles  of  nobility,  and  of  the  sacred  or- 
ders, of  Masonry,  etc.,  are  Latin  of  this  period. 
Indeed,  the  Normans  gave  us  the  words  fif/c,  dig- 
nity, 7iobk  (from  nosco,  Jiobilis,  knoivti),  etc. ;  also 
the  specific  titles  duke,  {dux'),  marquis^  count  {covies), 
peer  {par),  marshall,  etc.  Marquis  is  the  officer 
in  charge  of  the  mark  or  border,  and  is  therefore 
originally  a  Teutonic  word  embedded  in  French. 
Mars/ial  is  of  the  same  class.  Meresc/iaH  meant 
originally  in  Frankish  the  man  who  had  charge 
of  the  horses,  and  has  retained  in  the  French 
word  viarcchal  (blacksmith  or  farrier)  another 
branch  of  its  original  meaning.  But  on  another 
side  it  developed  to  mean  in  French  the  leading 


yo  ENGLISH    WORDS. 

military  ofiffcer,  as  "Ze  Marechal  NeyT  With  us 
this  second  meaning  has  been  arrested,  and  de- 
notes only  one  who  has  charge  of  a  procession, 
or  the  executive  federal  court  officer.  Our  word 
martial,  from  ^lars,  the  god  of  war,  is  froni  a 
totally  different  root,  and  came  to  us  along 
with  jovial,  saturnine,  mercurial,  and  a  number  of 
other  words  and  expressions  from  the  ancient 
pseudo-science  of  astrology.  Those  who  were 
born  when  certain  planets  were  in  the  "  ascend- 
ant "'  were  supposed  to  partake  of  certain  "  influ- 
ences." As,  however,  the  Latin  contained  the 
adjective  7?iartialis,  it  is  not  absolutely  certain  that 
the  word  martial  comes  to  us  through  the  astro- 
logical term. 

There  is  a  well-worn  but  still  interesting  quo- 
tation from  Ivanhoc  which  illustrates  the  relative 
positions  of  certain  Norman  and  English  words, 
and,  indirectly,  the  relations  of  the  two  peo- 
ples : 

"  ' .  .  .  I  advise  thee  to  call  off  Fangs  and 
leave  the  herd  to  their  destiny,  which,  whether 
they  meet  with  bands  of  travelling  soldiers,  or 
of  outlaws,  or  of  wandering  pilgrims,  can  be 
little  else  than  to  be  converted  into  Normans 
before  morning,  to  thy  no  small  ease  and  com- 
fort' 

"  '  The  swine  turned  into  Normans  to  my  com- 
fort I'  quotli  Gurth.     '  Expound  that  to  me,  Wam- 


ARTIFICIAL   CHARACTER    OF    LATIN    ELEMENT,     7 1 

ba,  for  my  brain  is  too  dull  and  my  mind  too  vexed 
to  read  riddles.'  * 

"  '  Why,  how  call  you  these  grunting  brutes  run- 
ning about  on  their  four  legs  ?'  demanded  W'amba. 

"'Swine,  fool,  swine,'  said  tlie  herd;  'every 
fool  knows  that.' 

"'And  STvim  is  good  Saxon,'  said  the  jester; 
'but  how  call  you  the  sow  when  she  is  flayed, 
and  drawn,  and  quartered,  and  hung  by  the  heels 
like  a  traitor  ?' 

'•'Pork,'  answered  the  swineherd. 

"  '  I  am  glad  every  fool  knows  that  too,'  said 
W'amba ;  '  and  pork,  I  think,  is  good  Xorman- 
French,  and  so  when  the  brute  lives  and  is  in 
the  ch-arge  of  a  Saxon  slave,  she  goes  by  her 
Saxon  name ;  but  becomes  a  Norman  and  is  call- 
ed/i^r/v  when  she  is  carried  to  the  castle-hall  to 
feast  among  the  nobles.  What  dost  thou  think  of 
that,  friend  Gurth,  ha  ?' 

'■ '  It  is  but  too  true  doctrine,  friend  Wamba, 
however  it  got  into  thy  fool's  pate.' 

"'Nay,  I  can  tell  you  more,'  said  Wamba,  in 
the  same  tone.  '  There  is  old  Alderman  Ox  con- 
tinues to  hold  his  Saxon  epithet  while  he  is  under 
the  charge  of  serfs  and  bondsmeii  such  as  thou  ; 

*  Read  ^mtX  jiddlcs  are  from  the  same  root,  meaning  "  to 
interpret."  Riddles  (something  to  be  expUiined)  was  not 
plural.  It  has,  ho-vvever,  lost  the  final  s.  liiddk  (a  large 
seine)  is  from  another  .Saxon  word. 


72  ENGLISH    WORDS. 

but  becomes  Beef,  a  fiery  French  gallant,  when  he 
arrives  before  the  worshipful  jaws  that  are  to  con- 
sume liim.  ]\Iynherr  Calf,  too,  becomes  Monsieur 
d:  Veau  in  the  like  manner ;  he  is  Saxon  when 
he  requires  tendance,  and  takes  a  Xorman  name 
when  he  becomes  a  matter  of  enjoyment.' "' 

From  the  Xorman-French  came  a  number  of 
general  or  class  names,  while  the  corresponding 
specific  names  for  individual  things  are  mostly 
Saxon.  Animal  and  beast  are  French,  but  dog^ 
cat,  zc'jassl,  fox,  be:,  /lorse,  mare,  sheep,  etc.,  are 
Saxon.  Again,  if  the  Xorman  gave  us  palace,  cas- 
tle, mansion,  we  have  kept  the  Saxon  words  house, 
ho7?ie,  and  cottage.  Against  the  French  word  table 
we  have  the  humbler  but  more  hospitable  word 
board.  Dish,  though  originally  from  the  Latin 
discus,  was  naturalized  so  early  as  to  come  into 
the  same  class  with  pitcher,  mug.  jug,  and  spoon. 
We  may  conjecture  that  our  Saxon  ancestors  ate 
with  their  knives,  since  fork  is  Latin  ;  still  they 
must  have  used  forks,  though  not  for  the  table, 
before  the  Conquest,  since  the  word  is  found  in 
Saxon  and  is  from  fnrca.  not  from  fourchette.*' 
Mr,  Spaulding  observes  :  '•  We  use  a  foreign  term 
naturalized  when  we  speak  of  color,  but  if  we  tell 
what  that  color   is,  as  red,  yeUon',  black,  green,  or 

*  We  may  make  tliis  conjecture  with  the  more  confi- 
dence, since  we  know  that  forks  were  not  used  in  England 
for  the  table  till  the  seventeentii  centurv. 


ARTIFICIAL    CHARACTER    OF    LATIN    ELEMENT.    73 

browji,  we  use  an  English  word.  We  are  Romans 
when  we  speak  in  a  general  way  of  moving,  but 
we  are  Teutons  if  we  leap  or  springs  or  slip  or 
slide^  or  crawl,  ox  fall,  or  7ualk,  or  ru/i,  siuim,  crap, 
or  fly.  The  more  modern  particularized  colors 
which  were  not  differentiated  by  our  ancestors, 
like  7nauve,  scarlet,  crimson,  vermilion,  carmine,  etc., 
come  under  a  different  head.  Many  of  them  are 
technical  trade  names,  derived  from  dyes,  like 
carmine  and  crimson,  from  kermcs,  cochineal  from 
Spanish,  through  the  Arabic." 

The  general  effect  of  the  XormanT^^ench  infu- 
sion of  words  was  to  give  us  a  large  number  of 
synonyms,  one  of  which  is  of  Latin,  the  other  of 
Teutonic  extraction,  \\V.q.  floiver  and  bloom,  stream 
and  river,  language  and  speech,  pitch  and  degree, 
u<ife  and  spouse,  miserable  and  wretched,  etc.  Each 
member  of  these  pairs  of  words  has  a  slightly  dif- 
ferent meaning,  and  goes  properly  with  different 
modifying  adjectives  and  fits  different  figurative 
usages.  For  instance,  we  can  speak  of  a  stream 
of  talk  or  of  ideas,  but  a  river  of  either  would  be 
rather  an  unpleasant  image.  We  say  a  high  pitch 
and  a  low  pitch,  but  not  low  degree,  for  this  has 
a  special  meaning,  and  is  an  antiquated  expres- 
sion. Again,  we  say  mother- tongue  z.w'l  fine  lan- 
guage, but  not  mother- language  nor  fine  tongue. 
Language  and  tongue  are  based  on  the  same 
verbal  metaphor,  cause  for  effect,  or  instrument 


74  ENGLISH    WORDS. 

for  product,  since  language  is  from  lingua,  tongue  ; 
but  the  two  words  have  nov/  entirely  different 
shades  of  meaning,  some  of  which  are  hardly 
distinguishable.  Language  lias  reference  to  the 
words  themselves  and  to  the  grammatical  con- 
struction, tongue  to  the  pronunciation  and  to 
the  specific  language.  "  His  tongue  bewrayeth 
him."  '"He  used  the  English  tongue."'  "Bad 
language  "'  has  an  idiomatic  meaning  of  its  own, 
equivalent  not  to  a  bad  tongue,  but  to  blas- 
phemous words.  SpeecJi  is  almost  equivalent  to 
spoken  language,  and  can  hardly  be  applied  to 
written  words.  It  v/ould  be  better  to  say  "  His 
book  was  written  in  the  Latin  language  "'  instead 
of  ''in  the  Latin  tongue."  We  feel  that  tongue  is 
the  more  archaic  arid  poetic  word.  English  is  full 
of  these  niceties  which  we  learn  by  usage,  and 
many  of  them  grew  out  of  the  fact  that  our  vo- 
cabulary is  drawn  from  two  great  reservoirs,  the 
stores  in  each  of  which  have  a  slightly  different 
character,  corresponding  to  the  national  spirit 
of  the  people  which  originally  used  them.  We 
are  not  aware  of  the  great  number  of  these  idi- 
oms or  peculiar  usages  of  words  until  we  read 
English  written  by  a  foreigner  who  has  attempted 
to  learn  the  language  after  maturity  or  through 
books. 

Synonyms  never  cover  exactly  the  same  ground. 
Thus,  some  uses  of  language  are  equivalent  to 


ARTIFICIAL    CHARACTER    OF    LATIN    ELEMENT.     75 

some  uses  of  tongue,  and  other  uses  of  toiigut 
are  exchangeable  for  some  uses  of  speech.  If 
we  represent  the  notions  or  concepts  covered  by 
the  word  language  as  enclosed  in  a  circle,  then 
the  circle  which  represents  the  word  tongue  would 
be  rather  smaller,  and  would  intersect  it.  The 
space  common  to  the  two  circles  would  represent 
those  meanings  common  to  the  two  words.  If, 
now,  we  represent  the  meanings  of  the  word  speech 
by  another  circle,  this  must  intersect  both  and 
also  cover  a  portion  of  the  space  common  to  the 
tv,-o.  It  should  be  the  smallest  of  the  three.  Only 
the  metaphorical  or  secondary  uses  of  tongue  and 
speech  are  here  considered.  The  primary  mean- 
ing of  tongue  is  the  organ  of  speech  and  taste, 
and  for  our  present  pfurpose  we  may  consider  the 
primary  meaning  of  speech  to  be  vocal  utterance. 
These  meanings  are  excluded  because  we  are  con- 
sidering the  words  as  synonyms.  The  special 
meanings  of  speech  are  but  few,  like  '"human 
speech,''  which  is  really  broader  than  "human  lan- 
guage." In  nearly  all  cases  either  the  word  lan- 
guage or  the  v.'ord  tongue  could  be  substituted 
for  the  word  speech,  though,  of  course,  the  reverse 
is  not  true.  The  distinctions  and  likenesses  of 
the  words  may  be  represented  by  the  circles  on 
the  next  page. 

Xo  two  v»-ords    are    exact   synonyms,  because 
even  if  the  meanings  are  almost  identical,  the  lit- 


76  ENGLISH    WORDS, 

erary  flavor  is  differ- 
ent. One  of  tlie 
words  is  always  the 
right  Avord  for  the 
place,  though  the  dif- 
ference is  frequently 
so  small  that  it  is  not 
worth  while  to  con- 
sider it —  at  least  in 
ordinary  prose.  "  Dc  fuifiimis  p.on  curat  lex  "' — and 
it  were  to  "  consider  too  curiously  "  to  attempt  to 
discriminate  the  significations  of  begin  and  com- 
jfience,  or  tnistivorthy  and  reliable ;  but  we  should 
almost  always  use  begin  and  trushuorthy  on  account 
of  their  Saxon  force.  Nevertheless,  there  are  cases 
where  we  should  prefer  to  use  the  word  conunenee. 
'•  Commenced  operations,"  for  instance,  seems  to 
imply  preparation  and  design  more  than  does 
began  operations ;  but  it  is  rather  a  colloquial  ex- 
pression at  best.  When  two  words  substantially 
equivalent  are  in  use,  the  genius  of  the  language 
assigns  them  to  different  duties  or  drops  one  of 
them. 

There  are  a  number  of  expressions  consisting 
of  two  words  of  the  same  meaning,  one  of  which 
is  English  and  the  other  Xorman-French.  These 
are  survivals  of  the  time  when  Xorman  words 
were  sinking  into  the  English  language,  and  some 
persons  understood  a  Norman  term  and  others 


ARTIFICIAL    CHARACTER    OF    LATIN    ELEMENT.     77 

an  English  one.  Mr.  Earle  gives  a  list  of  these 
double  expressions,  some  of  which  are  given  be- 
low : 

Act  and  deed.  Metes  and  bounds. 

Aid  and  abet.  Will  and  testament. 

Bag  and  baggage.  Use  and  wont. 

Head  and  chief.  Pray  and  beseech. 

The  Prayer-book,  revised  1 542-1 548,  and  found- 
ed largely  on  ancient  usage,  is  apparently  intiu- 
enced  by  this  feeling  for  a  double  vocabulary,  and 
uses  the  expressions  "  acknowledge  and  confess," 
"assemble  and  meet  together,"  '"dissemble  and 
cloak,"'  ''humble  and  lowly."'  Other  instances  of 
survivals  of  the  same  usage  can  be  found  in  the 
writings  of  the  sixteenth  and  seventeenth  cen- 
turies. 

This  great  gain  of  material  to  the  vocabulary 
of  t'.ie  English  language  vras  accompanied  by 
some  loss,  of  the  same  nature  as  the  gain,  and 
by  other  losses  of  a  more  serious  character.  The 
net  result,  as  seen  summed  up  in  the  great  Chau- 
cer, was  of  course  very  great  gain.  In  sympli- 
fying  the  grammar  a  number  of  fine  terminations 
were  lost.  The  um  of  the  dative  plural,  the  ai, 
an^  era,  and  ena,  the  igaiuc  and  !\\-!iJum  of  the 
Saxons,  could  not  have  been  other  than  digni- 
fied and  sonorous  sounds.  \\'e  have  the  admi- 
rable syllable  i7ig  for  the  present  participle,  but 


78  ENGLISH    WORDS. 

the  beautiful  termination  cnde  must  have  been 
less  apt  to  degenerate  into  a  nasal  sound.  The 
Strong  suffix  dom  which  we  have  in  kingdom,  wis- 
dom, Christendo77i,  etc.,  might  well  have  been  re- 
tained in  many  other  terminals.  Heritage  is  a 
grand  v/ord,  but  it  might  have  divided  territory 
with  the  still  stronger  Saxon  word  birthdom.  We 
might  have  appropriated  heritage  to  our  material,' 
and  birtJidom  to  our  spiritual  inheritance.  Of 
course,  in  symplifying  the  grammar  and  passing 
from  an  inflected  to  a  synthetic  language,  the  ter- 
minals must  go,  for  that  Vv'as  the  very  essence  of 
the  change  ,  and  if  v/e  look  regretfully  on  the  loss 
of  some  words  and  sounds,  we  must  try  to  keep 
unharmed  every  element  we  have  of  the  old  Eng- 
lish tongue. 

Latin  of  the  Fourth  Period. — The  Norman- 
French  words  entered  the  national  language — 
that  is,  the  tongue  of  the  people ;  but  in  the  six- 
teenth and  seventeenth  centuries  the  revival  of 
learning  and  the  increased  interest  in  theologi- 
cal and  philosophical  discussion  brought  about 
by  the  Reformation  resulted  in  the  introduction 
into  the  written  or  literary  language  of  a  large 
number  of  words  directly  from  Latin.  jNIilton, 
and,  later,  Sir  Thomas  Browne,  never  hesitated 
to  anglicize  a  Latin  term,  and,  in  consequence, 
many  ''  long  tailed  words  in  osity  and  ation "' 
crowded  into  the  English  language,  most  of  them. 


ARTIFICIAL   CHARACTER    OF    LATIN    ELEMENT.     79 

happily,  doomed  to  a  speedy  death  and  entomb- 
ment in  our  large  dictionaries.  Thus,  words  like 
excnuicate —  not  a  bad  v/ord,  by  the  way  —  scptcn- 
trioHality,  inoribundiousncss,  strutted  in  the  books 
of  the  learned  for  a  brief  day  and  then  disap- 
peared. Even  Dr.  Johnson  would  have  called 
these  ''ink-horn  terms,"'  though  they  were  used 
by  good  writers. 

Words  direct  from  the  Latin  can  readily  be 
distinguished  from  words  from  Latin  through 
French.  French  nouns  come  from  the  accusa- 
tives of  Latin  nouns,  the  terminations  being  much 
disfigured.  Frequently,  as  said  before,  we  have 
received  the  word  through  both  channels,  that 
through  the  French  being  the  more  disguised 
from  the  fact  that  it  was  received  into  the  oral 
language  through  the  ear,  while  the  Latin  deriv- 
ative was  transplanted  bodily  to  a  written  page. 
The  following  is  an  imperfect  list  of  such  dupli- 
cates : 

FROM  LATIN. 
DIRECT.  THROUGH  FRENCH. 

Antecessor.  Ancestor. 

Benediction.  Benison. 

Cadence.  Chance. 

Conception.  Conceit. 

„  ^    ,  (  Custom. 

Consuetude.  {  ^ 

{  Costume. 

Example.  Sample. 

Fabric.  For:ie. 


8o 


ENGLISH    WORDS. 


DIRECT. 

Faction. 

Fact. 

Fragile. 

History. 

Hospital. 

Particle. 

Pauper. 

Persecute. 

Pungent. 

Quiet. 

Separate. 

Tradition. 

Zealous. 

Captive. 

Radius. 


THROUGH    FRENCH. 

Fashion. 

Feat. 

Frail. 

Story. 

Flotel. 

Parcel. 

Poor.> 

Pursue. 

Poignant. 

Coy. 

Sever. 

Treason. 

Jealous. 

Caitiff. 

Rav. 


It  will  be  observed  that  the  words  in  the  second 
column  are,  on  the  whole,  shorter,  and  have  more 
of  the  vernacular  character  than  those  in  the  first ; 
and  some  of  them,  as,  for  example,  forge,  poor, 
ray,  sound  like  Teutonic  words,  so  firmly  have 
they  become  imbedded  in  English  speech,  and  so 
entirely  have  their  characteristic  Romance  ter- 
minations disappeared.  This,  of  course,  results 
from  the  fact  that  they  were  spoken  words,  taken 
from  a  living  language,  and  not  book  words,  taken 
from  the  literature  of  a  dead  language,  and  were 
assimilated  by  the  v/ear  and  tear  of  oral  speech. 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

LITERARY    CHARACTER    OF    THE    LATIN     DERIVA- 
TIVES. 

We  are  frequently  counselled  to  avoid  the  use 
of  Latin  derivatives,  and  are  told  that  the  quality 
of  earnestness,  simplicity,  and  power  belongs  to 
the  English  element  of  our  tongue.  This  caution 
certainly  can  apply  only  to  long  v/ords  with  Latin 
terminations.  The  following  is  an  imperfect  list 
of  words  of  Latin  root,  of  one  syllable,  which  have 
been  in  our  language  since  1400,  and,  like  the  Hu- 
guenots in  America,  or  the  Xormans  in  Ireland, 
have  become  more  native  than  the  natives  them- 
selves : 

Add,  air,  art,  beast,  blame,  blanch,  boast,  boil, 
cape,  case,  cause,  cease,  chance,  change,  charm, 
chaste,  cheer,  chief,  clear,  cook,  cope,  course, 
court,  crime,  crown,  cure,  damn,  dance,  doubt, 
dress,  ease,  face,  faith,  fail,  false,  fume,  feast,  fierce, 
fool,  force,  form,  fount,  gay,  grace,  grant,  grieve, 
guide,  guile,  haste,  haunt,  host,  hour,  join,  joy, 
judge,  large,  mass,  meat,  moist,  name,  nurse,  pace, 
6 


82  EXGLISH   WORDS. 

pain,  paint,  pair,  pale,  pass,  peace,  plain,  please, 
point,  pomp,  poor,  pope,  port,  pound,  pray,  preach, 
prude,  pounce,  prince,  prize,  prove,  pure,  purge, 
quaint,  quit,  rent,  robe,  rose,  rote,  route,  rude, 
saint,  sauce,  save,  school,  serve,  siege,  sign,  sir, 
sort,  space,  spend,  spouse,  squire,  strait,  taste,  tent, 
term,  turn,  vain,  \ice. 

Here  are  more  than  one  liundred  monosyllables 
of  Latin  lineage  in  constant  use  since  Chaucer's 
time,  and  the  number  of  dissyllables  of  similar 
character  is  much  greater.  There  is  no  reason 
that  we  should  avoid  these  words,  and  it  would 
be  harmful  to  try  to  do  so.  But  Latin  sentence- 
movement  must  be  avoided  at  all  hazards,  and 
the  long  Latin  derivatives  must  be  handled  with 
skill  and  discretion.  In  the  use  of  words  we 
should  be  independent,  but  v/ith  Saxon  proclivi- 
ties. 

Professor  Earle  says  that  ''A  Norman  family 
settled  in  England  and  edited  the  English  lan- 
guage," which  is  rather  a  neat  epigram  ;  but  would 
it  not  be  nearer  the  truth  to  say  that  the  English 
people  edited  their  own  language  and  Chaucer 
published  it  ?  The  language  grew  out  of  the 
usage  of  the  people  who  were  relieved  from  any 
literary  supervision  f(jr  nearly  three  hundred 
years,  and  it  still  grows  very  slowly,  in  spite  of 
literary  supervision  and  criticism. 

One  iniluence  which  tended  to  retain  archaisms 


CHARACTER    OF    LATIN    DERIVATIVES.  83 

arose  from  the  successive  translations  of  tlae  Bi- 
ble. Wycliffe,  in  the  fourteenth  centur}-,  trans- 
lated it  into  middle  English.  The  subsequent 
revisers,  Tyndall  (1526),  Coverdale  (15S0),  and 
the  revisers  in  King  James'  reign,  were  each  fa- 
miliar with  the  Bible  used  before  their  day,  and 
each  version  was  founded  on  its  predecessor. 
Each  reviser  was  desirous  to  retain  archaisms 
that  had  become  associated  with  the  text,  and  at 
the  same  time  to  make  the  book  "  understanded 
of  the  people."  Thus  there  was  a  sort  of  trans- 
mission in  a  written  book  and  in  the  minds  of 
the  people  of  phrases  and  v.'ords  which  might 
otherwise  have  dropped  out  of  remembrance. 
The  Bible  has  undoubtedly  been  a  conservative 
influence  for  the  English  element  of  our  com- 
posite language.  Its  relations  to  English  speech 
and  thought  have  been  very  close,  and  it  is  and 
has  been  tlie  storehouse  of  religious  phraseology. 
Professor  Marsh  says  ;  "  Wycliffe  must  be  consid- 
ered as  having  originated  the  diction  which  for 
five  centuries  has  constituted  the  consecrated  dia- 
lect of  the  English  speech,  and  Tyndall  as  hav- 
ing given  to  it  that  finish  and  perfection  which 
have  so  admirably  adapted  it  to  the  expression 
of  religious  doctrine  and  sentiment,  and  to  the 
narrative  of  the  remarkable  series  of  historical 
facts  which  are  recorded  in  the  Christian  Script- 
ures." 


84  ENGLISH    WORDS. 

Professor  Marsh  calls  attention  to  the  fact  that 
the  Norman  words  added  greatly  to  our  stock  of 
rhymes.  He  says :  "  Many  of  the  French  words 
which  first  appear  in  Chaucer  were  introduced 
for  the  sake  of  the  rhyme,  and  not  infrequently 
taken  as  they  stood  in  the  poems  which  he  trans- 
lated or  paraphrased,  and  there  is  almost  as  great 
a  preponderance  of  French  rhymes  in  his  ov/n 
original  works."  '"Tlie  Squire's  Tale"  has  not 
been  traced  to  any  foreign  source,  and  is  believed 
to  be  of  Chaucer's  own  invention ;  but  of  the  six 
hundred  and  twenty-tv;o  lines  of  which  that  frag- 
ment consists,  one  hundred  and  eighty-seven  end 
with  Romance  words,  though  the  proportion  of 
Anglo-Saxon  words  in  the  poem  is  more  than 
ninety  per  cent.  Puttenham,  late  in  the  sixteenth 
century,  is  severe  upon  Gower  for  helping  himself 
to  French  rhymes  when  English  v/ould  not  serve 
his  turn.  He  says :  ''  For  a  licentious  maker  is 
in  truth  but  a  bungler,  not  a  Poet.  Such  men 
were  in  effect  the  most  part  of  all  your  old  rimers, 
and  specially  Gower,  who  to  make  up  his  rime 
vrould  for  the  m.ost  part  write  his  terminal  sylla- 
ble with  false  orthograpliie,  and  menie  times  not 
stickle  to  put  in  a  plaine  French  word  for  an 
English  ;  and  so  by  your  leave  do  many  of  our 
common  rimers  at  this  day." 

Chaucer  concludes  the  complaint  of  ]\Iars  v/ith 
this  lamentation : 


CHARACTER   OF   LATIN   DERIVATIVES.  »5 

"And  eke  to  me  it  is  a  great  penaunce, 
Sith  rhyme  in  English  hath  such  scarcite, 
To  follow  word  by  word  the  curiosite 
Of  Graunson,  flour  of  them  that  make  in  Fraunce." 

Professor  Marsh  points  out  also  that  double 
rhymes  are  very  frequently  made  by  French  words. 
Double  rhymes  are  words  which  have  the  same 
terminal  unaccented,  and  a  rhyming  accented  pe- 
nult—  like  *'duty,"  '"beauty;"  '"ringing,"  "sing- 
ing:" "gladness,'"  sadness."  Many  of  the  rhyming 
couplets  among  the  English  derivatives  of  our  lan- 
guage are  heavy  monosyllables,  and  the  double 
rhyming  couplets  from  the  same  class  are  inflected 
words,  like  "chiming,"  "rhyming,"  or  the  antiquat- 
ed forms  in  dh  and  est ;  '"lyeth,"  "trieth ;'"  "lovest," 
'■  provest,"  which  last  are  awkward  enough.  We 
become  rather  tired  of  the  double  rhymes  in  ing^ 
and  double  rhymes  made  of  an  unaccented  word 
preceded  by  a  rhyming  word  have  an  element 
of  the  ridiculous,  like  "  write  it  "  and  "  smite  it." 
Therefore,  as  double  rhymes  are  very  pleasing 
to  the  ear,  and  as  we  have  but  few  graceful  and 
effective  polysyllabic  endings  of  Saxon  etymol- 
ogy, versifiers  will  generally  be  forced  to  seek 
them  in  the  Roman  and  Romance  elements  of 
our  speech,  and  thus  "  the  frequency  of  double 
rhymes  tends  to  increase  the  proportion  of  Latin 
words  in  our  poetic  dialect."  This  is  unfortunate, 
to  say  the  least,  for  any  artificial  pressure  on  our 


86  ENGLISH   WORDS. 

language  must  be  regarded  as  likely  to  be  injuri- 
ous ;  and  Professor  Marsh  goes  on  to  say  that 
our  poetic  diction  might  render  a  great  service  to 
the  language  if  it  could  revive  some  of  the  Saxon 
inflectional  terminals  employed  so  charmingly  by 
Chaucer,  as,  for  instance  : 

"With  hearty  will  they  sworen  and  asscntctt, 
To  all  this  tiling  ther  said  not  o  wight  nay ; 
Beseeching  him  of  grace  or  that  they  iventen. 
That  he  would  granten  hem  a  certain  day." 

"  Mrs.  Browning's  fine  poem,  the  '  Cry  of  the 
Children,'  contains  one  hundred  and  sixty  verses, 
with  alternate  double  and  single  rhymes,  and  of 
course  there  are  forty  pairs  of  double  rhymes,  or 
eighty  double-rhymed  words.  The  proportion  of 
Romance  words  in  the  whole  poem  is  but  eight 
per  cent.,  but  of  the  double -rhymed  terminals 
thirty  per  cent,  are  Romance,  so  that  nearly  one- 
fourth  of  the  Roniance  words  introduced  into  the 
poem  are  found  in  the  double  rhymes,  while  of  the 
eighty  single- rhymed  terminals  seventy  are  cer- 
tainly Saxon,  and  of  the  remaining  ten,  three  or 
four  are  probably  so." 

Tennyson  and  ]]ro\vning  revived  a  number  of 
archaic  words  —  most  of  them  for  the  sake  of 
their  associations — which  have  permanently  en- 
riched poetic  diction  and  through  this  the  literary 
language.  Poetry  is  one  root  of  linguistic  growth, 
and   tlie  words  it  introduces  to  good   society  or 


CHARACTER   OF    LATIN  DERIVATIVES.  87 

rescues  from  oblivion,  though  not  numerous,  not 
infrequently  obtain  or  resume  good  standing,  and 
are  sometimes  of  great  value. 

In  general,  the  Romance  element  of  our  lan- 
guage lends  itself  to  special  subjects  of  which  the 
nomenclature  is  Romance,  and  to  all  abstract  as 
opposed  to  concrete  treatment  of  a  subject.  Its 
literary  value  is  quite  equal  to  that  of  the  Saxon 
element,  but  if  wrongly  used  it  can  harm  literary 
expression,  whereas  Saxon  can  never  work  harm 
even  if  used  to  excess.  It  is  the  Latin  of  the 
Fourth  Period  which  is  apt  to  give  a  scholastic 
and  ponderous  effect,  not  the  Romance  element,  for 
that  has  become  a  part  of  our  mother-tongue. 
The  monosyllables  mentioned  on  page  8i  are 
idiomatic,  and  dissyllables  like  defeat,  delay,  gen- 
tle, story,  severe,  fortune,  Jionest,  hinnble,  intent, 
pity,  prayer,  promise,  study,  tyrant,  usage,  easy, 
monster,  and  hundreds  of  others  have  been  used 
so  long  —  they  all  occur  in  Chaucer — that  they 
have  acquired  the  colloquial  quality  as  fully  as 
any  Saxon  derivatives  that  could  be  named.  How 
could  we  do  without  the  words  people,  party,  per- 
fect, office,  repent,  report,  etc.,  all  so  firmly  im- 
bedded in  English  speech  that  they  come  to  our 
lips  when  needed  as  readily  as  any  Saxon  syn- 
onyms would,  if  indeed  there  be  Saxon  synonyms 
for  them  all.  The  particles  and  little  connect- 
ing words,  the  pronouns,  prepositions,  and  auxil- 


88  ENGLISH    WORDS. 

liary  verbs  of  our  language  are  from  the  Saxon 
side.  AVe  cannot  dispense  with  them,  but  if  any 
color  is  to  be  given  to  style,  the  Latin  as  well  as 
the  Romance  element  in  our  tongue  must  he  used. 
Furthermore,  if  sonorousness  is  to  be  attained  (a 
quality  visually  to  be  eliminated,  but  not  al- 
ways,) we  must  use  the  long  Latin  words  in  their 
proper  places.  They  give  the  basis — the  heavy 
resonance— the  carrying  power — needed  occasion- 
ally, though  rarely.  But  they  should  be  used  in- 
stinctively, not  of  malice  aforethought,  and  so  in- 
deed must  all  words.  A  man  might  as  well  insist 
on  expending  his  paternal  inheritance  to  the  ex- 
clusion of  what  he  had  received  from  his  niother, 
as  to  insist  on  using  Saxon  words  only. 

Examination  will  prove  that  many  striking  im- 
ages in  our  literature  derive  their  force  from  Latin 
and  Romance  words.  Matthew  Arnold  calls  Shel- 
ley "  a  /(j/t',  iincffcctual  augcl,  beating  his  hiniinoiis 
wings  in  the  void.''  None  of  these  words  can  be 
changed,  because  there  are  associations  with  near- 
ly all  of  them.  A  "v.-an,  weak  ghost,  flapping  liis 
bright  wings  in  the  emptiness,'"  or  any  other  Sax- 
on paraphrase,  is  trash.  I'ale  and  niicffcttiial  are 
connected  in  a  well-known  quotation.  Beating, 
applied  to  wings,  is  used  by  Rosetti  in  another 
beautiful  passage,  and  had  been  applied  to  the 
Angel  of  Death  by  John  ]!right  in  an  oratorical 
passage  of  rare  elevation  and  purity.     Luminous 


CHARACTER    OF    LATIN    DERIVATIVES.  89 

has  scientific  associations  as  a  source  of  liglit. 
Void  suggests  cosmic  space  through  which  a  divine 
message  might  be  striving  in  vain  to  approach  us. 
So  all  these  words  strengthen  each  other.* 

When  Shakspeare's  cliaracters  are  to  make  a 
pLiin,  strong  statement  (as  is  pointed  out  by  Pro- 
fessor Corsen),  tliey  frequently  use  Saxon  mono- 
syhables  ;  but  wlien  their  emotional  and  intellect- 
ual natures  are  wrought  up  to  a  stress  of  passion, 
and  they  have  time  to  express  their  feelings,  they 
avail  themselves  of  the  stores  of  picturesque  and 
sonorous  words  which  come  from  Latin  and  French. 
Thus  Macbeth,  speaking  of  the  blood  on  his  hands, 
says  that  it  would 

"the  niitltitiidlnoits  seas  iiii'ari:adiuc ;'  1 

but  he  has  worked  up  to  that  tremendous,  poly- 
syllabic, exaggerated  expression  of  guilt  through 
simpler  Saxon  words.  When  he  hears  that  his 
wife  is  dead,  he  falls  back  in  his  chair  with  a 
groan,  and  says  : 

"She  should  have  died  hereafter: 
There  would  have  been  a  time  for  such  a  word. 
To-morrow,  and  to-morrow,  and  to-morrov/, 
Creeps  in  its  petty  pace  from  day  to  day. 
To  the  last  syllable  of  recorded  time." 

*  Examine  Shelley's  "Adonais"and  the  "Sensitive  Plant," 
and  note  that  the  elevated  images  are  usually  presented  in 
Latin  and  Romance  words. 


go  ENGLISH    WORDS. 

The  image  called  up  by  the  two  Romance 
words  syllable  and  j-ccorded  is  the  most  sublime  in 
literature.  No  other  words  would  be  so  powerful. 
No  other  words  would  have  brought  before  us  the 
image  of  the  Angel  of  Eternity  announcing  the 
close  of  time,  as  it  arose  in  the  mind  of  the  trans- 
gressor of  the  moral  law. 

But  when  jNIacbeth  is  giving  an  order  or  de- 
scribing something  he  sees — though  it  be  an  illu- 
sion— his  language  is  Saxon  : 

"Go,  bid  thy  vtistirss,  when  my  drink  is  ready 
She  strike  upon  the  belL      Get  tliee  to  bed  ! 
Is  this  a  dagger,  which  I  see  liefore  me, 
Tb.e  handle  toward  my  hand?   Come,  let  me  clutch  thee  : 
I  have  thee  not,  and  yet  I  see  thee  still." 

Antony  says  of  Cleopatra  ; 

"Age  cannot  wither  licr,  or  citsto;n  stale 
Her  infinite  variety." 

One  of  the  most  intellectually  satisfying  images 
in  the  "  Sonnets"  lies  in  two  Sa.xoii  words,  but  the 
thing  imaged  is  introduced  by  Romance  words. 
Lamenting  the  degrading  and  narrowing  effect  of 
his  vocation  as  a  purveyor  of  public  amusement, 
Shakspeare  says : 

"Thence  comes  it  that  my  name  receives  a  brand 
And  almost  thence  my  nature  is  sitl'JtieJ 
To  what  it  works  in,  like  the  dyer's  hand." 


CHARACTER   OF    LATIN    DERIVATIVES.  9 1 

Many  of  the  great  phrases  in  the  "  Collects  ''  ex- 
emplify the  dual  nature  of  English.  For  instance, 
"  Pour  upon  them  the  contimial*  clew  of  thy  bless- 
ing." The  Romance  word  has  the  same  quality 
of  inevitableness  as  the  Saxon  ones,  ^ifzi/and  bless- 
ing. Both  come  from  the  heart  of  the  language. 
It  is  unnecessary  to  multiply  examples. 

Wetaay  say  in  conclusion  that  English  is  a  com- 
posite language;  that  each  element  has  its  own 
value  ;  that  to  try  to  limit  ourselves  to  Saxon  re- 
sults in  baldness  and  sterility — the  danger  of  our 
age;  that  to  overwork  the  Latin  results  in  in- 
flation and  pomposity,  and  that  to  translate  ade- 
quate Saxon  expressions  into  Latin  equivalents, 
as  is  sometimes  done,  under  the  impression  that 
we  must  use  a  more  elevated  diction,  is  in  such 
bad  taste  that  no  one  who  reads  needs  be  warned 
against  it.  Nothing  but  careful  reading  of  good 
literature  and  constant  practice  will  give  us  that 
feeling  for  words  which  will  enable  us — supposing, 
in  the  first  place,  that  we  have  something  to  say — 
to  use  the  two  elements  of  our  vocabulary  so  as 
to  get  the  value  of  each. 

Still,  the  examination  of  etymologies  Avill  be 
found  to  be  of  considerable  benefit  in  increasing 
our  power  of  appreciating  verbal  refinements.    It 


*  A  rule  of  modern  rhetoric  would  change  continual  to 
continuous,  thereby  spoiling  the  phrase. 


92  ENGLISH    WORDS. 

is  true  that  many  of  those  who  have  used  words 
with  the  greatest  deUcacy  and  originality  have  not 
even  known  that  tlie  English  language  was  com- 
pounded of  two  elements.  But  in  many  of  our 
writers,  whose  claim  to  be  considered  literary  art- 
ists is  undisputed,  as  De  Quincey,  Lamb,  Lowell, 
Thackeray — to  go  no  further — it  is  evident  that 
the  knovv'ledge  of  classical  etymology  has  added 
to  their  command  of  words  and  their  power  of 
using  them  in  new  relations,  and  of  bringing  out 
novel  and  striking  shades  of  meaning. 

In  reference  to  the  number  of  words  in  our  lan- 
guage, and  the  number  derived  from  each  great 
source.  Max  ^Miiller  says  :  '■^Skeat's  Etymological 
Dictionary  of  the  English  Language,  which  confines 
itself  to  primary  words  —  that  is  to  say,  which 
would  explain  tuck,  but  not  lucky,  unlucky,  or  luck- 
less;  multitude,  but  not  multitudinous,  etc. — deals 
with  no  more  than  13,500  entries.  Of  these, 
4000  are  of  Teutonic  origin,  5000  are  taken  from 
the  French,  2700  direct  from  Latin,  250  from 
Celtic,  and  the  rest  (1250)  from  various  sources. 
A  language  is,  after  all,  not  so  bewildering  a  thing 
as  it  seems  to  be,  when  v;e  hear  of  a  dictionary 
of  250,000  words.  For  all  the  ordinary  purposes 
of  life  a  dictionary  of  4000  words  would  be  quite 
sufficient." 

The  material  of  the  English  language  may  there- 
fore be  taken   to   be  about   1,3.500  words.     The 


CHARACTER    OF    LATIN    DERIVATIVES.  93 

number  of  entries  in  our  great  dictionaries  is 
swelled  by  including  all  possible  compounds,  mul- 
titudes of  technical  scientific  words,  and  all  the 
parts  of  speech  except  plurals  and  possessives, 
giving,  for  instance,  under  love,  loveless,  lovely, 
lovingly,  unlovely,  etc.,  and  by  including  obsolete 
words  and  spellings,  and  many  temporary  and 
slang  words  manufactured  for  some  special  use. 
To  put  the  vocabulary  of  educated  persons  at 
4000  words  only,  would,  however,  seem  rather 
illiberal,  although  the  vocabulary  of  agricultural 
laborers  in  England  is  said  not  to  exceed  6oo 
words. 

There  are  a  few  hybrid  words  in  the  language 
made  by  giving  a  Saxon  termination  to  a  Latin 
stem,  or  by  compounding  elements  of  any  two 
languages  into  a  single  word.  Some  of  these  are  : 
interloper  (Latin -Dutch),  keelhaul  (Dutch -Scan- 
dinavian), tarpaulin  (Latin  -  English),  chapman, 
Christmas,  partake,  pastime,  saltpetre,  bankrupt,  and 
many  others  of  the  same  double  nature.  The 
Latin  prefix  dis  and  the  English  prefix  mis'''  are 
joined  freely  to  verbs  of  either  root.  Out  and 
over — English  prefixes — can  be  compounded  with 

*  ^I/Zj  is,  however,  also  a  French  prefix,  from  Lntin  inimis 
— as  in  niiscliicf,  misorant,  misalliance.  But  mis  a.s  in  mis- 
deed, is  English  and  connected  with  miss,  and  has  a  slightly 
different  force.  Miscarry,  viisapply,  misdirect,  are  hybrid 
v.'ords. 


94  ENGLISH    WORDS. 

words  from  all  sources.  The  termination  7icss — 
pure  English— is  given  to  as  many  Latin  words  as 
English,  and  so  is  the  prefix  y6'/-6'/  but  in  these 
cases  we  should  rank  the  word  for  literary  classi- 
fication according  to  the  character  of  its  principal 
parts.  Disburden  and  disbelieve,  for  instance,  have 
the  same  Saxon  flavor  that  burden  and  believe 
have.  The  same  is  true  of  such  words  as  fore- 
castle, forejudge,  forefi-o?it.  They  remain  French 
in  spite  of  their  Saxon  prefix. 

We  will  close  the  examination  of  the  character 
of  the  Latin  element  in  English  by  an  extract 
from  that  delicate  artist  in  words,  Emerson.  He 
says  ("English  Traits'""): 

"  The  Saxon  materialism  and  narrov.iicss  ex- 
alted into  the  sphere  of  intellect  makes  the  very 
genius  of  Shakspeare  and  I\Iilton.  When  it 
reaches  the  pure  element  it  treads  the  clouds  as 
securely  as  the  adamant.  Even  in  its  elevations 
materialistic,  its  poetry  is  common-sense  inspired, 
or  iron  raised  to  a  white  heat. 

"The  marriage  of  the  two  qualities  is  in  their 
speech.  It  is  a  tacit  rule  of  the  language  to  make 
the  frame  and  skeleton  of  Saxon  words,  and  when 
elevation  or  ornament  is  sought,  to  interweave  the 
Roman,  but  sparingly.  Xor  is  a  sentence  made  of 
]\.oman  words  alone  without  loss  of  strength. 
The  children  and  laborers  use  Saxon  unmixed. 
The  Latin  unmixed  is  abandoned  to  the  colleijes 


CHARACTER    OF    LATIN    DERIVATIVES.  95 

and  Parliament.  Mixture  is  a  secret  of  the  Eng- 
lish island,  and  in  their  dialect  the  male  principle 
is  the  Saxon,  the  female  the  Latin,  and  they  are 
combined  in  every  discourse.  A  good  writer,  if  he 
has  indulged  in  a  Roman  roundness,  makes  haste 
to  chasten  and  nerve  his  period  by  English  mono- 
syllables." 


CHAPTER   IX. 

MINOR    SOURCES    OF    ENGLISH    WORDS. 

Judging  from  the  relative  numbers  in  the  two 
great  word -groups,  the  one  from  Teutonic,  the 
other  from  Latin  or  Romance  sources,  vve  should 
conclude  that  English  was  a  composite  lan- 
guage. But  it  is  not  so  except  in  its  vocabu- 
lary. It  is  a  language  just  as  the  United  States 
is  a  nation — ^the  evolution  of  a  definite  form  of 
social  consciousness.  It  is  a  Low- Germanic 
tongue,  colored  and  enriched  by  an  infusion  of 
Italic  derivatives.  On  examining  the  two  groups 
we  find  that  the  Teutonic  group  contains :  first, 
the  words  we  most  frequently  use  in  every- 
day matters ;  second,  the  little  words  we  use 
over  and  over  again.  Therefore,  though  we  can- 
not think  discursi\'cly  on  any  subject  without 
using  words  from  both  sources,  v\-e  select  a  word 
from  the  Teutonic  half  of  our  store  at  least  seven 
or  eight  times  as  often  as  we  do  one  from  the 
Latin-Romance  h;df.  Furthermore,  the  structure 
of  tlie  language  is  Teutonic,  and  the  most  impor- 


MINOR    SOURCES    OF    ENGLISH    WORDS.  97 

tant  prefixes  and  suffixes  are  Teutonic.  Be  in 
bemoan  and  befriend,  for  in  forbid,  mis  in  mis- 
deed, and  the  separable  prefixes  (fier,  in,  off,  on, 
out,  over,  nndcr,  nj>,  are  old  English.  So,  too,  are 
the  strong  suffixes  ard—stcn  in  cotvard,  drunk- 
ard, etc. — dom,  er,  liood,  ness,  ship,  sted.  fast,  fold, 
ful,  ish,  and  ward.  Compare  these  to  the  Latin 
prefixes  we  use,  like  non,  extra,  inter,  post,  pro, 
super,  sub,  trans,  ultra,  and  to  the  Latin  suffixes 
like  age — as  in  courage,  be^'crage,  etc. — ancy,  ate, 
ion,  tion,  ment,  able,  osity,  ory,  ation,  and  the  supe- 
rior power  and  native  character  of  the  old  En- 
glish syllables  are  evident.  As  a  rule,  they  strike 
us  as  growing  more  naturally  out  of  the  root. 
The  Greek  suffixes  and  affixes  we  use — e.g.,  ism, 
asm,  ies,  ize,  ist,  impart  still  more  of  a  foreign,  ar- 
tificial character.  Lastly,  as  said  before,  the  nat- 
ural rhythm  of  the  English  language,  though  Teu- 
tonic, is  individual,  and  differs  from  that  of  the 
Anglo-Saxon,  or  of  the  German.  An  English 
sentence  forced  to  assume  the  Latin  rhythm 
strikes  us  at  once  as  bookish  and  academic.  The 
grammatical  structure  and  the  order  of  the  words 
is  Teutonic,  though  a  few  inversions  are  admiss- 
ible or  even  pleasing.  For  all  these  reasons  it  is 
evident  that  English  is  not  a  composite  or  hybrid 
tongue  compounded  of  Anglo-Saxon  and  Latin, 
but  distinctly  a  Teutonic  language,  an  organic 
growth  from  a  vigorous  national  life.  This  point 
7 


98  ENGLISH    WORDS. 

is  emphasized  at  the  risk  of  repetition,  because  it 
certainly  is  important  that  every  one  who  is  born 
to  the  use  of  a  hxnguage  should  correctly  appre- 
ciate its  native  character. 

The  Teutonic  root  of  the  English  language  has 
itself  two  branches,  though  not  of  equal  impor- 
tance. Before  the  Norman  Conquest,  vdiich  ini- 
tiated the  evolution  of  our  modern  tongue,  the 
Saxon  invaders  of  England  were  themselves  sub- 
ject to  invasion  by  bands  of  Xort'nern  pirates 
whom  they  called  Danes.  These  Danes  made 
permanent  settlements  on  the  eastern  coast,  ex- 
tended their  ravages  into  the  interior,  and  con- 
solidated their  power,  till  in  the  century  before 
the  Norman  Conquest  their  chief,  Knut.  became 
king  or  overlord  of  England.  I'hey  spoke  old 
Norse,  or  Scandinavian,  a  language  allied  to  the 
Low- Germanic  tongues  of  the  Angles  and  Sax- 
ons. The  affinity  of  their  languages,  and  the 
juxtaposition  and  partial  amalgamation  of  the 
peoples  resulted  in  the  survival  in  English  of  a 
number  of  words  of  Norse  origin.  \\'hen  the 
Norse  word  and  the  Anglo-Saxon  word  for  the 
same  thing  were  not  alike  in  sound— or  at  least 
sufficiently  unlike  not  to  be  confounded  in  ordi- 
nary utterance — one  would  be  retained  in  the  Dan- 
ish districts  and  the  other  in  the  Saxon  districts. 
V>y  degrees  the  meanings  would  be  differentiated, 
and  in  the  end  the  language  would  possess  two 


MINOR    SOURCES    OF    ENGLISH    WORDS.  99 

words  with  slightly  different  shades  of  meaning. 
Thus,  loJwIe  comes  from  the  Anglo-Saxon  hal 
(entire),  and  hah  (hearty)  comes  from  the  Xorse* 
or  Scandinavian  //iv'// (sound  or  entire).  In  many 
cases  the  sounds  were  alike  but  the  meanings  dif- 
ferent, and  the  result  would  be  a  pair  of  homo- 
nyms (words  of  the  same  sound  but  of  differ- 
ent meanings).  Thus,  _/^j/  in  the  sense  of  firm, 
is  English ;  but  fast  in  the  sense  of  rapid,  is 
Xorse.  Fast  to  refrain  from  food,  is  a  branch 
meaning  of  the  former  word,  based  on  the  idea 
that  the  abstainer  is  observing  a  firmly-establish- 
ed rule;  hw.\.  fast  aslc:p  comes  from  the  second 
source,  and  means  the  state  of  sleeping  rapidly,  by 
rather  an  odd  metaphor.  Again,  y/^?^,  to  grov,- 
v.-eary,  is  English ;  but  flag^  an  ensign,  is  Xorse ; 
aye^  meaning  yes,  is  English  ;  aye,  meaning  for- 
ever, is  X'orse  ;  bound,  secured  or  fastened,  is  Eng- 
lish, but  bound,  in  the  sense  of  determined  (bound 
to  do  it;,  is  Xorse.  The  same  is  true  of  cozv, 
the  animal,  and  cou^,  to  dishearten  ;  of  crab,  the 
crustacean,  and  crab,  the  fruit;  and  of  many  other 
pairs. 

Many  of  tlie  X'"orse  derivatives  are  harsli  and 

*  Old  Xorse  is  generally  applied  to  Old  West  Xorse  only 
(Icelandic  and  Norwegian).  Brugmann  applies  the  term 
old  Xorse  to  tlie  whole  development  of  the  Scandinavian 
languages  up  to  the  sixteenth  century. — Comparative  Grani- 
iiiar.  i;  10. 


lOO  ENGLISH    WORDS. 

abrupt  in  sound,  especially  those  beginning  with 
the  sk  or  s/i  sound.  If  we  strike  out  skaf^  and 
skipper  (ixoTix  the  Uutcli),  sk  in  the  beginning  of  a 
word  is  an  almost  sure  mark  of  a  Norse  deriva- 
tive. AVords  beginning  with  sc  are  about  evenly 
divided  between  the  English  and  the  Norse  groups, 
but  the  initial  sk  will  be  found  about  three  times  as 
often  on  an  old  English  word  as  on  one  from  the 
Norse.*  Among  the  Norse  words  with  the  above 
initial  letters  are  scani,  scald  (a  poet,  probably 
from  same  root  as  scold),  scar  (a  rock),  scarf  (to 
hew  diagonally),  scrip  (a  bag),  scrape,  scraggy, 
skoal,  skingle,  skunt,  etc.  Many  words  of  Norse 
origin  end  in  g,  as  drag,  dreg,  flag,  Jiug,  keg,  slag, 
smug,  rig  stag,  and  egg 

There  are  about  six  hundred  and  sixty  words 
in  our  language  from  the  Norse,  and  three-fourths 
of  them  are  monosyllables.  The  literary  charac- 
ter of  these  words  is  about  the  same  as  that  of 
the  great  body  of  those  from  the  Anglo-Saxon. 
They  are  short  and  emphatic,  often  sibilant  or 
guttural,  and  have  a  close  relation  to  their  mean- 
ings. They  form  a  very  valuable  constituent 
part  of  our  language  because  they  are  genuine 
folk-v;ords,  and  entered  it  through  oral  speech, 
and  therefore  form  one  of  the  organic  elements, 
and    are    not    intruders    like  vrords    that    enter 

*  Xo  Latin  words  begin  with  sk,  and  very  few  with  sc 
or  sJi. 


MINOR    SOURCES    OF    ENGLISH    WORDS.        lOI 

through  the  written  language.*  Islany  of  them 
refer  to  maritime  matters,  and,  as  a  rule,  they 
have  concrete — as  opposed  to  abstract — mean- 
ings. The  vigor  of  a  language  depends  greatly 
on  its  wealth  in  words  of  concrete  meaning,  be- 
cause we  can  always  manufacture  abstract  terms 
from  them.  Concrete  terms  are  the  suggesters 
and  feeders  of  thought. 

The  names  of  many  villages  in  the  parts  of 
England  inhabited  by  the  Danes  end  in  bye  or  b}\ 
or  even  bee.  This  syllable  is  from  the  Xorse 
word  for  town  or  home.  Thus  v/e  find  Grimsby, 
Whitby,  Netherby,  Derby,  etc.  The  laws  of  these 
towns  or  settlements  were  called  byc-Ia7L's,  a  term 
we  have  retained  for  special  rules.  The  word  bye 
still  means  home  or  safe  place  in  many  games, 
and  it  is  a  Xorse  survival  when  children  shout 
"  Touch  my  bye  first."  Traces  of  Danish  occupa- 
tion can  also  be  found  in  the  names  of  towns 
ending  m  ford  ov  forth,  from  ^oisQford  (p.  bay), 
as  in  Waterford,  Delforth,  etc.  The  subject  of 
geographical  names  will  be  touched  on  hereafter. 

We  have  now  run  over  briefly  the  sources  of 
English  words  proper  —  that  is,  of  words  which 
came  into  the  language  during  its  formative  pe- 
riod, and  through  the  channel  of  general  usage. 

*  A  Ic'sX  words  entered  EnLjlisli  from  the  Xorse  through 
the  French.  Sucli  are  abet,  bfandish,  banihii^e,  blemish. 
l^ir  a  full  list  see  Skcafs  Dictionary,  p.  750. 


I02  ENGLISH    WORDS. 

Several  minor  groups  of  words  are  found  in  mod- 
ern English  which  have  been  borrowed  from 
other  languages.  Some  of  them  have  come 
through  the  oral  and  some  through  the  literary 
language.  Some  have  been  borrowed  directly, 
and  some  after  having  been  taken  into  a  third 
language.  Of  these  we  v/ill  instance  only  the 
Greek,  the  Arabic,  the  Hebrew,  and  the  Dutch 
group.  A  full  review  would  name  also  the  spo- 
radic words  —  hardly  numerous  enough  to  be 
classified  into  groups — from  the  Xorth  American 
Indian,  the  Hindustanee,  the  ?^Ialayan,  the  Amer- 
ican Spaniards,  the  Portuguese,  and  the  languages 
of  other  peoples  with  whom  the  aggressive  com- 
mercial instinct  of  the  English  has  brought  them 
in  contact.  These  words  are  fully  classified  in 
Skeat^s  Etymological  Dictionary^  pp.  757-761. 

An  interesting  group  of  words- — interesting 
from  the  historical  stand-point  at  least  —  is  that 
which  has  come  to  us  from  the  Arabic,  usually 
from  the  language  spoken  by  the  Saracenic  con- 
querors of  Spain,  commonly  known  as  the  Moors. 
Their  civilization  was  marked  by  intellectual  in- 
tensity as  well  as  by  artistic  feeling.  They  were 
the  mediaeval  pioneers  in  medicine  and  science, 
and  many  of  the  older  chemical,  astronomical, 
and  mathematical  terms  are  taken  from  their 
tongue.  Among  these  are  such  words  as  zenith, 
nadir,  and  azimuth;  the  names  of  fixed  stars,  as 


MINOR   SOURCES   OF    ENGLISH    WORDS.        I03 

Aldebaran,  Antares,  Algol,  Altair,  Betelgeuse, 
Rigel,  Fomalhaut,  etc.  All  of  these  names  have 
meanings,  and  frequently  embody  a  poetic  image. 

That  these  Moors  read  Greek  is  shown  not 
only  by  their  treatises  on  Greek  philosophy,  but 
by  the  fact  that  many  scientific  terms  are  derived 
by  us  from  them  which  were  first  borrowed  by 
them  from  the  Greek.  Frequently  they  are  com- 
pounded of  the  Arabic  definite  article  al  and 
some  Greek  term.  Alc/ie?!iy,  for  instance,  is  made 
up  of  this  article  and  the  Greek  word  meaning 
mingling;  akmbic,  of  the  article  and  the  Greek 
word  meaning  a  cup.  Algebra,  too,  is  Arabic, 
and  consists  of  the  article  and  the  first  word  of 
an  expression  meaning  "  the  putting  together  and 
comparing,"  as  is  done  in  an  equation.  Alkali 
is  pure  Arabic,  and  msans  '"the  ashes,"  and  took 
its  meaning  from  the  discovery  that  the  ashes  of 
sea-weed  possess  certain  properties  due  to  the 
presence  of  potash  and  soda.  Kali  also  gives 
us  K  as  the  symbol  of  potash.  Alcohol  in  Ara- 
bic means  "the  fine  pov/der,"  and  was  supposed 
to  be  of  magical  efficacy.  The  transference 
of  meaning  to  rectified  spirit  is  comparatively 
modern. 

We  owe  to  these  Moors  also  the  great  gift  of 
simple  characters  for  the  numerals  up  to  nine, 
and  for  the  decimal  notation  which  fixes  values 
for  these  characters  according  to  position  on  a 


I04  ENGLISH   WORDS. 

scale  of  ten.  How  valuable  an  invention  this 
was  can  be  readily  determined  by  learning  to  add 
or  multiply  numbers  expressed  in  the  clumsy  Ro- 
man notation.  The  words  cipher  and  zero  come 
from  the  same  Arabic  term,  sifr.  The  old  Latin 
treatises  on  arithmetic  wrote  it  zephyrum.  The 
Italians  contracted  this  into  zefiro,  and  we  short- 
ened it  still  further  into  zero.  But  the  French 
contracted  the  Latin  word  into  cifre.,  and  from 
them  we  took  the  form  cipher.  The  'two  words 
have  different  meanings  in  English  now,  zero 
meaning  nothing,  or  the  starting-point  of  gradua- 
tion on  a  scale,  and  cipher  meaning  the  charac- 
ter. The  word  meant  in  Arabic  empty  or  hollow 
before  it  was  applied  to  the  character. 

Other  words  of  Arabic  origin  which  entered  the 
English  language  by  a  roundabout  course  through 
some  Romance  language  Z.XQ.  nophtha,  rose,  Jasper, 
nitre,  amulet,  mattress,  saffron,  sultan,  sofa,  syrup, 
and  candy.  Admiral  is  from  Emir  al  bahr,  lord 
of  the  sea.  We  took  this  v/ord  from  the  French, 
and  at  first  spelled  it  ammiral.  The  Arabic 
group  numbers  about  one  liundred  words,  and 
their  derivations  are  full  of  suggestions  of  Ori- 
ental history.  Emerson  called  words  '*  fossil 
poetry,"  and  Trench  observes  that  they  are  "fos- 
sil history,"  as  well.  Admiral  carries  us  back 
to  the  time  when  a  Moorish  sea-captain  was  lord 
of  the  Mediterranean  Sea,  and  Gibraltar  {Gchcl 


MINOR   SOURCES    OF    ENGLISH    WORDS.        105 

al  Tarik,  or  Tank's  hill)  was  the  landing-place  of 
the  conqueror  of  Spain. 

If  our  Teutonic  civilization  is  greatly  indebted 
intellectually  to  one  Semitic  civilization,  it  is  still 
more  indebted  spiritually  to  another — the  Hebrew. 
But  as  Western  civilization  has  come  into  contact 
with  Hebrew  civilization  only  through  a  book, 
our  language  has  received  very  few  words  from 
the  Hebrew.  The  translation  of  the  Bible  neces- 
sitated the  transference  of  a  few  Hebrew  words 
for  which  no  equivalents  could  be  found  in  Eng- 
lish. These  number  but  thirty,  and  embrace  such 
words  as  alleluia,  behemoth,  cherub,  ci/inamon, 
ephod,  jug,  Messiah,  sack,  Satan,  sabaoth,  shibbo- 
leth. But  the  Greeks  had  intercourse  with  the 
Hebrews  and  Phoenicians  before  the  Christian  era, 
so  that  a  number  of  words  were  borrowed  by 
the  Greeks  from  them.  Alphabet,  delta,  iota  are 
words  of  Hebrew  root  which  we  have  received 
through  the  Greek.  Most  of  these  Hebrew-Greek 
words  went  into  Latin  from  Greek  in  the  Latin 
translation  of  the  Septuagint.  Among  these  are 
avien,  manna,  fabbi,  Pharisee,  Sabbath,  Sadducee, 
etc.  The  names  of  the  seven  archangels,  Michael, 
Gabriel,  Raphael,  Uriel,  Chamuel,  Jophiel,  and 
Zadkiel  *  are  also  Semitic. 


*  In  some  lists  Azrael,  Satan,  and  Ithuriel  take  the  place 
)f  the  last  tliree. 


I06  ENGLISH    WORDS. 

There  has  always  been  considerable  commercial 
intercourse  between  the  English  and  their  ances- 
tral relatives  in  Holland.  Antwerp,  or  ''At  the 
Wharf,"  was  the  principal  market  for  English 
wool  before  manufacturing  was  established  in 
England.  Colonies  of  Flemish  artisans  settled 
in  England  at  the  invitation  of  the  King,  or  fleeing 
from  religious  persecution.  The  Dutch  have  al- 
ways been  a  seafaring  people,  and  many  of  our 
maritime  terms  are  traceable  to  their  language. 
Among  these  are  aJio)\  avast,  ballast,  belay,  boj/ii, 
duck  (sail-cloth),  lioll,  hoy,  hull,  lighter,  linstock, 
marline,  orlop,  reef,  skipper,  splice,  sloop,  yacht, 
yawl.  The  similarity  of  the  languages  allowed 
the  ready  transference  of  words,  but  it  is  pos- 
sible that  some  of  the  above  maritime  terms  may 
have  existed  in  the  English  sailor-language  from 
very  early  times,  parallel  with  their  survival  in 
Dutch,  but  have  been  first  printed  or  written  in 
Dutch.  Sloop,  yacht,  and  yaicl  are  unquestion- 
ably Dutch. 

Hollanders  and  Englishmen  sympathized  in 
the  religious  questions  brought  into  prominence 
by  the  Reformation,  but  these  questions  were  dis- 
cussed for  the  most  part  in  Eatin.  Otherwise,  the 
exchange  of  some  words  of  a  more  elevated  char- 
acter than  the  above  might  have  resulted.  Tlie 
few  words  introduced  into  our  language  by  the 
Dutch  settlers  of  New  York,  like  stoop  (for  por- 


MINOR   SOURCES    OF    ENGLISH    WORDS.        107 

tico),  cnilk/s,  supaiun*  have  never  attained  com- 
plete naturalization. 

When  we  need  a  new  scientific  or  mechanical 
word  we  are  very  apt  to  manufacture  it  from  the 
Greek,  as  was  done  in  the  case  of  telegraphy  tele- 
phone, phonograph,  dynamo,  thermodynamic,  iso- 
thermal, and  the  numerous  "ologies."  A  large 
number  of  scientific  terms,  especially  those  used 
in  mathematics  and  geology,  and  many  political 
and  philosophical  words,  came  from  the  Greek  by 
natural  transference.  Aristotle,  Euclid,  Pythag- 
oras, and  Plato  furnished  our  forefathers  with 
thoughts  and  with  terms  for  the  thoughts.  These 
cover  such  words  as  analyze,  anapcst,  dactyl,  aph- 
orism, axiom,  category,  hexagon,  and  climax.  The 
list  of  words  taken  directly  from  Greek  is  quite  a 
long  one  —  at  least  three  hundred  and  fifty;  but 
they  are  nearly  all  special  words.  More  generally 
useful  is  the  greater  number  that  come  from  Greek 
through  Latin,  or  through  French  through  Latin. 
Many  theological,  literary,  and  poetic  words  are 
in  these  classes.  \\'e  may  instance  of  the  first : 
abyss,  alms,  angel,  ato?n,  asylum,  echo,  epoch,  ethic, 
fungus,  story,  impolitic,  orphan.  Of  the  second  : 
agony,  air,  austere,  blame,  cheer,  diadem,  giant,  idiot, 
jealous,  logic,  machine,  music,  ocean,  phrase,  tyrant, 


*  Sx<pazvn  is  Indian  rather  than  Dutch,  tliough  used  by 
the  Dutch  settlers. 


V 


Io8  ENGLISH    WORDS. 

trophy,  to?nb,  tone,  zeal,  etc.  It  is  evident  that 
English  has  enriched  itself  from  many  sources. 
There  is  not  one  of  these  words  that  we  would 
be  willing  to  part  with.  Though  in  some  cases 
they  retain  a  slight  scholastic  flavor,  they  are 
thoroughly  embedded  in  our  speech,  and  are  now 
just  as  truly  English  as  are  our  words  of  un- 
doubted Saxon  ancestry. 

The  following  tables  are  taken  principally  from 
those  in  ^larsh's  Lectures  on  the  English  Language. 
The  first  is  based  on  the  number  of  words,  count- 
ing each  word  but  once.  For  instance,  after  count- 
ing the  word  is  once,  it  would  not  be  allowed  to 
enter  the  enumeration  again,  although  it  might 
occur  a  hundred  times  in  the  matter  under  con- 
sideration. In  making  the  second  table,  how- 
ever, the  words  is,  the,  an,  etc.,  are  counted 
every  time  they  are  used.  The  first  is  called 
an  ''enumeration  of  the  total  vocabulary;''  the 
second  is  called  an  "  enumeration  of  the  total 
words  used."  The  reason  for  the  great  prepon- 
derance of  Teutonic  words  in  the  second  table 
is,  of  course,  that  the  particles,  auxiliary  verbs, 
and  words  of  commonest  use  are  Saxon,  al- 
though our  entire  vocabulary  is  more  than  half 
Romance. 

Tlie  relative  percentage  of  Latin  words  in  the 
Bible  and  in  Milton  are  especially  worthy  of  com- 
parison. 


MINOR   SOURCES   OF    ENGLISH    WORDS.        I09 

TOTAL  VOCABULARV,  lOO. 

Per  cent,  of 
Name  of  Book  or  Writer.  Anjjlo-Saxon 

Words. 

The  Ormulum,  a.d.  1225  (semi-Saxon)  .  97 

English  Bible 60 

Shakspeare 60 

Milton  (poetry) 33 

TOTAL   WORDS   USED,  INCLUDING   REPETITIONS,  I  GO. 

Per  cent,  of 
N.\ME  OF  Book  or  Writer.  Anglo-.Saxon 

NS'ords. 

Robert  of  Gloucester,  ten  pages 96 

Piers'  Ploughman,  Introduction,  entire  .  S8 

Chaucer,  Prologue,  420  verses 88 

Squire's  Tale,  entire 91 

Sir  Thomas  More,  seven  pages 84 

Faerie  Queen,  one  canto 86 

John's  Gospel,  four  chapters 96 

^Matthew's  Gospel,  three  chapters 93 

Romans,  four  chapters 90 

Othello,  Act  V 8g 

Tempest,  Act  1 88 

Milton,  L' Allegro 90 

"       II  Penseroso 83 

"       Paradise  Lost 80 

Addison,  Spectator 82 

Pope,  poetry 80 

Swift,  Political  Lying 88 

"      John  Bull  ' 85 

Johnson,  Preface  to  Dictionary 72 


no  ENGLISH    WORDS. 

Per  cent,  of 
Name  of  Book  or  Writer.  Anglo-Saxon 

Words. 

Junius,  two  letters 76 

Hume's  History,  one  chapter 73 

Gibbon,  Decline  and  Fall,  one  chapter.  70 
Webster,*  Second    Speech    on    Foote's 

Resolution   75 

Irving,  Stout  Gentleman 85 

"      Westminster  Abbey 77 

Macaulay,  Essay  on  Lord  Bacon 75 

Channing,  Essay  on  ]\Iilton 75 

Cobbett,  on  Indian-corn 80 

Prescott,  one  chapter 77 

Bryant,  Death  of  the  Flowers 92 

"        Thanatopsis 84 

Mrs.  Browning,  Cry  of  the  Children  ...  92  . 

"           "           Lost  Bower 77 

Robert    Browning,    Bishop    Blougram's 

Apology   84 

Edward  Everett,  Eulogy  on  Adams.  ...  76 
Ticknor,  History  of  Spanish  Literature, 

one  chapter 73 

Tennyson,  The  Lotus-eaters 87 

"  In    jNIemoriam,   first    twenty 

strophes   89 

*  Large   Latin   percentage  t)\\ing  to  rcjietition  of  words 

Like  congress,  constitution,  union,  etc.      Weljster  ordinarily 
eniployed  about  ciglily  per  cent,  of  Saxon  words. 


MINOR   SOURCES    OF    ENGLISH   WORDS.        Ill 

Per  cent,  of 
Name  of  Book  or  Writer.  Anglo-Saxon 

Words, 

Ruskin,  Modern  Painters,  chapter  on  the 

Superhuman  Ideal 73 

Longfellow,  Miles  Standish 87 

Martineau,   Endeavors  after  the  Chris- 
tian Life 74 

We  see  from  the  above  that  after  the  language 
was  first  made  a  literary  vehicle  by  Chaucer,  down 
to  the  middle  of  the  eighteenth  century,  the  pro- 
portion of  Saxon  words  used  by  the  best  writers 
was  not  far  from  seventeen  words,  counting  repe- 
titions, to  three  of  the  foreign  classes,  and  that 
Shakspeare  and  the  Bible  are  markedly  Saxon  ; 
that  after  this  period  the  proportion  increased, 
reaching  the  maximum  of  Latinity  in  Gibbon; 
that  during  the  present  century  there  has  been  a 
reversion  to  the  use  of  Saxon,  especially  marked 
in  poetry ;  and  that  the  subject-matter  influences 
the  number  of  Saxon  words  used.  This  last  is 
shown  by  the  different  ratios  given  by  Milton's 
'•  L'Allegro,"  where  the  thought  is  cheerful  and 
superficial,  and  the  images  drawn  for  the  most 
part  from  rural  life;  and  by  his  "II  Penseroso" 
(the  reflective  man),  the  tone  of  which  is  more 
philosophical,  and  the  images  scholastic  or  social. 
Again,  "Westminster  Abbey"  naturally  suggests 
topics  connected  with  history  and  chivalry,  and 


112  ENGLISH    WORDS. 

the  writer  draws  more  freely  on  our  store  of  Ro- 
mance words.  The  "  Stout  Gentleman  "  is  on  a 
less  dignified  plane,  and  familiar  Saxon  phrases 
fit  the  thought.  'I'he  same  contrast  is  evident 
between  !Mrs.  ]]rowning's  two  poems,  the  "  Cry 
of  the  Children  "  and  the  "  Lost  13ower.''  The 
modern  reversion  to  Saxon  words  v/ill  be  the 
more  marked  if  we  reflect  that  since  Dr.  John- 
son's day  the  number  of  Saxon  words  in  ordinary 
use  has  not  increased  materially,  while  a  large 
number  of  alien  terms  have  been  made  familiar 
by  science  and  the  arts.  It  is  further  notev/orthy 
how  Saxon  our  best  poetry  is,  and  how  Latinized 
our  philosophic  and  artistic  criticism,  as  shown 
by  Ruskin  and  Martineau.  It  seems  strange,  at 
first  sight,  that,  as  the  table  makes  evident,  an 
increase  of  only  two  or  three  per  cent,  in  the 
number  of  Latin  derivatives  used  should  give 
the  effect  of  excessive  Latinity.  Probably  this 
is  produced  by  the  cadence  and  structure  of  the 
sentences  more  than  by  the  character  of  the  vo- 
cabulary. 


CHAPTER  X. 

METHOD    OF    THE    WORD-FORMING    INSTINCT. 

The  origin  of  language  is  shrouded  in  impen- 
etrable m^'stery,  like  the  origin  of  everything  else. 
There  can  be  no  record  before  the  means  of 
making  a  record  exist.  By  studying  languages 
we  can  find  out  how  they  have  changed  during 
the  historic  period,  and  how  they  are  changing 
now.  We  can  then  infer  what  the  changes  before 
that  period  must  have  been — proceed  from  the 
known  to  the  unknown,  on  the  hypothesis  that 
the  process  by  which  languages  were  developed 
in  the  past  3000  years. is  the  same  by  which 
they  were  developed  in  the  much  longer  period 
during  which  articulate  speech  was  slowly  as- 
suming the  forms  which  we  now  recognize  as 
the  most  archaic.  This  is  all  that  we  can  do,  and 
we  run  the  risk  of  overlooking  some  factor  of 
prime  importance  which  has  ceased  to  be  oper- 
ative. Again,  we  must  remember  that  the  part 
of  the  total  development  of  language  that  has 
taken  place  in  historic  time  is  so  slight  in  com- 


114  ENGLISH    WORDS. 

parison  with  what  had  taken  place  before,  that 
inferences  carried  from  the  nature  of  operations 
in  the  known  past  to  those  of  tlie  unknown  past 
are  very  likely  to  be  erroneous.  The  difference 
between  a  modern  man  and  the  most  primitive 
man  of  whom  we  have  record  is  small  compared 
to  the  difference  between  the  most  primitive  man 
and  his  earliest  possible  ancestor.  Even  if  we 
should  become  convinced  that  the  original  word- 
forming  instinct  is  still  at  work  among  modern 
men,  we  must  remember  that,  like  all  the  great 
primitive  human  instincts,  it  is  so  thwarted  and 
corrupted  by  civilization  that  its  original  trend 
and  character  are  barely  discernible.  Nor,  for 
obvious  reasons,  does  the  process  of  acquiring 
the  power  of  speech  by  infants  throw  much  light 
—  if  any — on  the  original  race -process.  The 
powers  and  tendencies  of  the  child  are  all  in- 
herited, and  those  which  date  from  fifty  or  one 
hundred  generations  back  are  the  controlling 
ones,  to  the  exclusion  of  the  primitive  instincts, 
and,  what  is  of  more  consequence,  the  modern 
child  is  born  into  a  modern  environment. 

Since  the  discovery  of  Sanskrit  a  number  of 
conclusions  have  been  established  by  philologists. 
The  great  fact  of  the  relationship  of  all  the  Aryan 
tongues  points  towards,  if  it  does  not  establish, 
the  unity  of  the  race.  The  fact  that  all  the 
Aryan  languages  are  based  on  a  limited  number 


METHOD   OF  WORD-FORMING    INSTINCT.       I15 

of  roots  or  simple  sounds  about  two  hundred  in 
number,  most  of  which  seem  to  be  connected  with 
a  certain  action,  proves  that  language  is  a  growth, 
in  a  fuller  and  more  comprehensive  sense  than 
had  before  been  thought  possible,  and  shows, 
further,  that  man  is  a  thinker  just  so  far  as  he 
is  in  possession  of  words,  and  that  both  these 
powers  must  once  have  been  in  an  elementary 
condition.  Furthermore,  it  has  been  shown  that 
language  has  been  built  on  these  roots  by  the 
use  of  metaphors.  When  the  need  was  felt  of 
expressing  some  new  conception,  an  old  word  or 
combination  of  words  was  used  which  expressed 
a  real  or  fancied  resemblance  between  the  thing 
already  named  and  the  new  thing  for  which  a 
name  was  wanted.  Thus,  man  is  a  poet  or 
maker  of  words  in  very  much  the  same  way  that 
he  is  a  creator  of  any  poetical  form.  This  met- 
aphor-making power  is  the  main  force  in  the 
formation  of  language,  and  it  is  necessary  to  as- 
sume the  possession  of  only  a  very  elementary 
vocabulary  for  a  starting-point.  In  the  present 
chapter  it  is  the  intention  to  present  evidences 
of  this  poetic  imaginative  faculty  in  some  of  our 
English  words,  the  derivations  of  which  are  easily 
ascertained.  It  has  been  exercised  in  the  for- 
mation of  every  word  if  we  follow  its  history  far 
enough  back. 

For  instance,  breath  and  air  and  wind  leaving 


Il6  ENGLISH    WORDS. 

names  (probably  one  word),  and  a  dead  man  or 
animal  being  one  which  has  ceased  to  breathe, 
breath  or  air  would  naturally  be  thought  to  be 
that  which  constitutes  life,  or  that  which,  having 
departed,  made  the  living  animal  dead.  There- 
fore, in  all  languages  we  find  that  the  word  which 
signifies  soul  or  spirit  has  for  a  root  the  word 
signifying  air  or  breath.  Thus,  spirit  is  spiritus ; 
animus  is  Greek  ane7)ios,  or  wind.  The  origin  of 
our  word  soul  is  unknown,  but  it  may  be  taken 
for  granted  that  it  is  some  concrete  and  sensible 
thing  used  as  the  sign  of  an  invisible  thing.  The 
Teutonic  word  g/iost  is  from  the  root  meaning 
breath. 

When  it  is  said  that  these  primitive  metaphors 
are  poetical,  it  is  not  meant  that  they  always  are 
what  we  should  recognize  as  poetically  beautiful. 
They  are  frequently  so,  for  they  are  nearly  always 
apt  illustrations  of  something  abstract  by  some- 
thing more  concrete.  It  is  the  evidence  of  the 
naive  striving  of  primitfve  man  with  his  limited 
stock  of  materials  to  express  something  just  be- 
yond him,  that  makes  the  roots  of  language  poet- 
ical, for  this  struggling  to  express  something  not 
definitely  understood  is  the  main -spring  of  all 
art.  Strange  as  it  may  appear,  these  primitive 
metaphors  have  widely  colored  our  conceptions 
of  spiritual  things. 

It  may  very  naturally  be  objected  that,  if  a  few 


METHOD    OF  WORD-FORMING    INSTINCT.       II7 

verbal  roots  form  the  elements  of  primitive  lan- 
guage, we  should  find  some  savage  tribes,  whose 
development  is  in  the  lowest  possible  condition, 
in  possession  of  these  roots  and  nothing  more, 
whereas  no  such  example  can  be  found.  The 
answer  to  this  is  that  the  world  is  very  old,  and 
that  no  savage  tribe  represents  the  condition  of 
primitive  man,  for  all  savages  show  traces  of 
great  antiquity  in  their  inherited  instincts  and 
superstitions.  The  infant,  undeveloped  racial 
man  cannot  be  found,  for  it  is  too  late.  The 
modern  savage  is  mature,  though  in  a  state  of 
warped  development,  and  behind  him  lie  hun- 
dreds of  centuries  of  torpid  life  before  we  reach 
the  period  —  if  ever  there  was  such  a  period  — 
when  language  was  formed  from  its  elements, 
and  the  original  language  -  building  power  of 
humanity  was  exerted.  Therefore,  we  must  look 
on  a  savage  tribe  as  a  wreck  quite  as  much  as  a 
germ,  and  can  draw  no  better  inferences  from  its 
speech  than  we  can  from  the  speech  of  a  highly- 
developed  community.  We  find,  too,  that  savages, 
as  far  as  they  have  risen  to  the  conception  of  ab- 
stractions, have  employed  the  same  method  of  ex- 
pressing them  in  speech  that  civilized  men  did. 

Names,  then,  are  never  given  arbitrarily,  ex- 
cept by  moderns.  All  the  geographical  names 
mentioned  in  the  chapter  on  local  names,  if  of 
any  respectable  antiquity,  are  real  names — mean 


Il8  ENGLISH    WORDS. 

something,  embody  something.  Himalay  means 
the  abode  of  snow.  Snccfcll  and  Ben  -  Nevis 
have  the  same  signification — the  snow  mountain. 
Sutherland  (the  6'.,';//'// 1  and),  the  north-west  county 
of  Scotland,  is  so  called  because  the  name  was 
given  by  the  Norse  inhabitants  of  the  islands  to 
the  north  of  it.  England,  or  Angle-land,  is  called 
Albion  on  account  of  the  white  chalk  cliffs  of 
the  southern  coast  as  seen  from  the  Continent. 
Even  now  if  a  folk-name  is  allowed  to  form  it- 
self, it  grows  from  some  root  in  the  same  way 
that  the  earliest  ones  did. 

The  names  of  flowers  not  unfrequently  embody 
a  rustic  poetry.  Chaucer's  daisy  is  the  eye  of 
day.  Bnftereiip  and  golden  -  rod  are  equally  de- 
scriptive. Rosemary  is  ros  marine,  from  some 
fancied  resemblance  between  the  flower  and  sea 
spray.  It  has  been  altered  from  ros  marine  by 
reason  of  a  popular  etymology  connecting  it  with 
rose  of  Mary.  Rose  is  from  an  Arabic  word  which 
passed  into  Greek,  thence  into  Latin,  thence  into 
English.  Foxghree  embodies  a  pretty  conceit. 
The  asters  have  a  star-like  form.  Geranium  is 
from  the  (Jixcek.  geranos,  a  crane,  the  flowers  hav- 
ing a  fancied  resemblance  to  a  stork's  bill  in 
color.  Fink  comes  from  a  Celtic  word  meaning 
to  pierce,  as  in  ''to  pink  with  a  rapier,"  and  the 
name  was  given  on  account  of  the  '"pinked"  or 
serrated  edfrcs  of  the  flowers.     Alallou'  is  from 


METHOD    OF  WORD-FORMING    INSTINCT.       I19 

a  Latin  word  based  on  mollis,  soft.  Through  the 
French  it  gives  us  7?tauve,  the  color.  The  7'iolct 
also  has  given  its  name  to  a  shade  of  blue.  Lilac 
was  the  Persian  name  of  the  indigo  plant,  but, 
being  appropriated  in  English  to  a  flowering 
shrub  with  purple  blossoms,  has  given  its  name 
to  a  shade  of  light  purple.  Bud  is  from  a  word 
meaning  to  push.  Nastnrtin^n  is  supposed  to  be 
from  nas-torqncrc  (nose-twister).  Daffodil  is  from 
Greek,  asphodel.  Wort  is  the  Saxon  word  for 
plant,  and  dock  is  the  Celtic.  In  consequence, 
these  words  appear  very  frequently  in  the  folk- 
names  for  plants  and  herbs. 

Primitive  metaphors  are  very  well  illustrated  in 
the  words  for  feelings  and  actions  of  the  mind. 
Thus,  attention  is  a  stretching  of  the  mind.  Ten- 
sion, as  applied  to  a  mental  state,  is  of  modern 
coinage,  but  is  based  on  much  the  same  met- 
aphorical conception.  Our  modern  notic-ns  of 
physical  science  have  given  to  this  word  and  to 
pressure  a  new  meaning.  Conception  (con  caapio), 
a  taking  of  two  things  together,  or  of  one  thing 
with  another,*  is  based  on  the  idea  that  in  an 

*  It  is  quite  possiljle  that  the  original  force  of  tlie  I.atin 
prefix  con  or  cnm  was  not  taking  two  things  together,  Ijut 
taking  all  parts  of  a  tiling  at  once.  Comprehend  and  con- 
ceiz'e  would  then  mean  grasping  the  whole  of  a  thing,  not 
grasping  a  thing  with  its  attendant  circumstances.  But  the 
fact  that  the  original  metaphorical  transfer  lay  in  using  a 
physical   action    to    express   a   mental    action    remains    un- 


I20  ENGLISH    WORDS. 

elementary  mental  act  we  compare  one  thing 
with  another.  One  cannot  comprehend  anything 
unless  it  is  taken  hold  of  ii<ith  its  associated 
ideas.  Associated  ideas  are  companion  thoughts. 
from  socius.  Idea  is  from  the  root  rid,  to  see. 
An  idea  is  a  mental  image.  To  see  with  the  eye 
and  to  know  with  the  mind  are  analogous.  Sym- 
pathy^ from  the  Greek,  and  compassion,  from  the 
Latin,  express  the  thought  that  when  we  sympa- 
thize or  compassionate  in  th:i  true  sense,  we 
share  suffering  with  another  person.  J\issio?i  is 
from  patior,  to  suffer,  as  if  a  man  in  a  passion 
were  enduring  the  mastery  of  a  demon.  The  old 
use  means  suffering;  from  the  same  root  are 
pathos,  patient,  and  passive.  Anger  and  anguish, 
awe,  and  even  quinsy  are  all  from  the  same  root, 
A  Gil,  to  choke.  Courage  is  from  ceeur,  the 
heart.  Hate  is  based  on  the  same  root  as  hu?it, 
meaning  to  pursue.  Love  is  from  a  root  meaning 
•  to  covet,  to  desire.  This  would  seem  to  show 
that  hate  was  recognized  as  an  active  principle 
earlier  than  love,  since  its  root  contains  a  less 
complex  idea,  though  such  an  inference  borders 
on  the  fanciful. 

iSIental  states  and  characteristics  are  expressed 
by   condensed    metaphors.      Modest   signifies    a 

changed.  This  is  tlic  point  in  whicli  the  growth  of  Lan- 
guage iUustratcs  tlie  dcvelojinicnt  of  the  hum.in  intellect 
from  lower  views  to  higher  ones. 


METHOD    OF  WORD-FORMING    INSTINCT.      121 

person  who  acts  within  a  modus,  or  rule,  and  the 
root  MA,  from  which  it  comes,  gives  us  also 
measure  and  moon,  and,  possibly,  Jiian.  The  rad- 
ical idea  in  the  word  temper  is  to  moderate  or 
qualify  by  mixing.  This  original  import  of  the 
word  is  seen  in  the  phrase  to  temper  mortar,  or 
to  te7nper  steel,  for  in  tempering  steel  something 
was  supposed  to  mix  or  unite  with  the  metal  so 
as  to  harden  it.  Again,  temperature  was  taken  to 
mean  degree  or  amount  of  heat,  in  accordance 
with  the  theory  that  something  material  mixed 
with  a  substance  to  make  it  hot.  Temper  as  aj> 
plied  to  the  disposition  meant  the  state  resulting 
from  a  mixture  of  moods  or  impulses.  Origi- 
nally, it  was  implied  tliat  the  resulting  state  was 
a  proper  and  commendable  one,  but  now  when 
we  say  a  "fit  of  te-mper"  we  mean  a  fit  of  bad 
temper.  The  use  of  the  taleuts  for  mental  apti- 
tudes comes,  of  course,  from  the  parable  of  the 
intrusted  talents  or  sums  of  money.  The  ad- 
jective talented  was  objected  to  in  the  last  genera- 
tion, but  seems  to  have  acquired  a  good  standing 
now,  though  it  is  better  to  avoid  using  it.  At  all 
events  it  has  expelled  the  word  gifted.  The  orig- 
inal root  of  the  word  memory  is  not  known.  It 
would  probably  mean  something  like  picking  up, 
or  sorting  out,  or  seeing  a  second  time.  But  the 
verb  think  is  supposed  to  be  distantly  connected 
with  the  root  of  the  v.'ord  thijig,  as  if  the  thought 


122  ENGLISH    WORDS. 

were  originally  regarded  as  an  image  or  emanation 
of  the  thing  thought  of.  Lunacy  derives  its  name 
from  the  superstition  that  the  mental  condition 
was  somehow  influenced  by  the  moon,  though  the 
common  word  Io;my*  is  based  on  a  metaphor 
drawn  from  tlie  Xorse  word,  loon,  which  in  Ice- 
land may  refer  to  a  foolish  bird,  though  in  our 
country  it  signifies  one  quite  as  intelligent  as 
those  who  try  to  shoot  it.  The  point  to  notice 
in  all  these  cases  is  that  a  concrete  thing  is  al- 
ways found  to  be  the  godfather  of  an  abstraction 
in  the  early  efforts  of  man  to  express  himself,  and 
that  his  progress  has  been  from  the  conception 
of  the  material  to  the  partial  conception  of  the 
spiritual.  We  are  so  closely  bound  to  matter 
that  we  cannot  learn  to  think  without  using  the 


*  The  names  of  birds,  with  the  exception  of  duck,  are 
used  in  a  derogatory  sense  when  applied  to  human  Ijeings, 
to  carry  tlie  idea  that  a  person  resemljles  the  bird  in  unde- 
sirable qualities — '".g-,  coot,  goose,  /cdcock,  o'ol,  loon,  ga//, 
boohy.  Loon  in  the  expression  "  crazy  as  a  loon"  has  been 
influenced  in  its  meaning  by  the  \\'ord  lunatic  from  Latin 
liDui,  \\  hich  v.'as  applied  to  persons  whose  sanity  was  tempo- 
rarily disturbed  under  the  impression  that  the  changes  of  the 
moon  were  somehow  responsible  for  periods  of  mental  de- 
rangement. l"or  this  reason  loo)iy  is  sometimes  incorrectly 
spelled  lioiy.  The  old  word  loon  or  looin  is  also  apiilied  to 
an  awlcward  clown  ("Macbeth,"  Act.  \.,  Scene  iii.,  liric 
xi.).  Hoohy,  too,  is  pirobably  ])rimarilv  an  epithet  applied 
to  a  man,  and  connected  with  lalhuticr,  to  slammer,  and 
afterwards  inven  to  a  bird  in  a  derisive  sense. 


METHOD   OF  WORD-FORMING    INSTINCT.       1 23 

words  which  represented  matter  in  man's  carUest 
speech. 

So  great  is  the  influence  of  our  material  sur 
roundings  on  us  that,  had  we  Hved  as  iishes  do  in 
a  gross  medium  like  water,  perhaps  we  should 
never  have  risen  to  the  conception  of  pure  spirit. 
The  rarer  medium,  the  ether,  through  which  heat 
and  light  are  conveyed,  is  not  perceptible  by  our 
senses.  Hence  it  has  never  been  so  fruitful  of 
words  to  express  conceptions  of  mental  and  spir- 
itual being  as  has  air.  Fiery  is  an  old  word,  but 
it  is  not  based  on  the  word  meaning  fire,  and 
does  not  radically  mean  a  conflagration  in  the 
mind,  but  simply  a  rapid  movement.  When  we 
say  an  "illuminated  intellect,"  or  an  "ethereal 
being,"  we  arc  using  comparatively  modern  met- 
aphors :  but  the  word  spirit,  from  breath  or  air,  is 
so  ancient  a  metaphor  that  we  have  ceased  to  be 
conscious  that  it  is  one.  Xevertheless,  the  for- 
mation of  all  of  these  metaphors  is  due  to  an 
efl'ort  of  the  word-building  instinct. 

There  is  another  element,  of  comparatively  lit- 
tle importance,  in  the  word-building  instinct,  and 
that  is  the  tendency  to  imitate  the  thing  signified 
by  the  vocal  sound  which  represents  it.  Thus, 
buzz^  7L>/iiz,  crack,  roar,  creak,  croak,  crash,  boom, 
hiss,  hum,  hotel  (probably),  roar,  squeak,  drum, 
tomtom,  zwfS.  fizz  are  imitative  words.  As  these 
words  are  original,  it  has  been  thought  that  they 


124  ENGLISH    WORDS. 

were  entitled  to  rank  as  roots,  and  that  language 
might  have  sprung  from  an  attempt  to  reproduce 
certain  of  the  natural  sounds  or  noises.  If  we 
suppose  man  to  have  once  been  an  animal  desti- 
tute of  language  but  possessed  of  the  power  of 
acquiring  it,  and  eagerly  desirous  of  cominunicat- 
ing  with  his  fellows,  it  is  difficult  to  imagine  what 
he  could  have  done  except  to  gesture  and  make 
imitative  noises,  just  as  persons  do  now  when  they 
cannot  speak  the  same  language.  Jjut  can  we  as- 
sume an  analogy  between  speechless  man  and 
modern  man  without  being  misled  by  it .''  And 
v.-hy  should  man  not  have  developed  a  sign  lan- 
guage instead  of  a  vocal  language?  Max  Miiller 
ridicules  tlie  theory  that  language  may  have  orig- 
inated in  attempts  to  imitate  the  sounds  of  nature 
as  the  hoii'-ivojo  theory.  The  serious  objections 
to  it  are  :  First,  the  onomatopoeic  words,  with 
one  or  two  exceptions,  are  not  the  fruitful  words, 
the  generative  sounds,  by  the  compounding  and 
modification  of  which  whole  groups  are  formed. 
Jliss  and  buzz  are  two  \-ery  good  examples  of  ono- 
matopueic  words,  but  they  are  destitute  of  progeny ; 
while  from  sta,  to  stand,  is  derived  a  family  of  at 
least  ten  different  groups,  and  spak.  to  see.  has 
been  still  more  productive.  Second,  the  imita- 
tive words  are  quite  different  in  closely -allied 
languages,  showing  that  they  are  of  comparatively 
late   origin.     Third,  the   number  of   things   and 


METHOD    OF  WORD-FORMING    INSTINXT.       I  25 

actions  which  can  be  represented  by  a  character- 
istic sound  is  quite  limited,  and  entirely  inade- 
quate to  form  the  basis  of  language. 

It  is  true  that  there  are  a  few  onomatopoeic 
roots,  or  rather  roots  having  some  onomatopoeic 
quality,  like  bahl^  to  resound,  the  root  of  bellow, 
bawl,  and  bull ;  gu,  to  low,  the  root  of  coiv ;  mu, 
to  mutter,  the  root  of  vitittcr ;  and  mui%  the  root 
of  murmur,  all  of  which  refer  to  sounds  ;  but  even 
these  are  not  the  great  fruitful  roots  from  which 
language  draws  its  nourishment.*  Again,  there  is 
a  large  number  of  words  like  breeze,  thunder, 
freeze,  grind,  tear,  etc.,  of  which  we  think  the 
sound  expressive  of  the  sense,  tliey  are  so  closely 
related  in  our  minds.  Possibly  in  the  wear  and 
tear  of  time  the  onomatopa-ic  sense  of  man  may 
have  modified  the  sound  of  these  words  slightly, 
but  in  their  originals  no  resemblance  between 
sense  and  sound  can  be  found.  On  the  whole, 
we  should  say  that  any  pair  of  them  might  change 
meanings  even  now  without  any  loss  of  fitness. 
^^'e  therefore  allow  to  the  onomatopoeic  or  imita- 
tive propensity  a  very  subordinate  part  in  language- 
formation,  and  recognize  the  imaginative  or  met- 
aphor-suggesting power  of  the  human  thinker  as 

*  r"or  a  full  and  plausible  presentation  of  the  arguments 
sustaining  the  theory  that  language  sprang  from  imitations 
of  natural  sounds,  see  Canon  Farrar's  book,  Lairgnagc-  and 
Laiv^itaiTcs. 


126  ENGLISH    WORDS. 

the  building  energy  of  word-growth.  It  is  true 
this  last  does  not  account  for  the  origin  of  the 
roots.  It  takes  these  for  granted,  and  so  must 
any  rational  theory  of  language. 
^  At  present,  when  a  name  is  sought  for  a  new 
thing  or  operation,  it  is  arbitrarily  manufactured. 
The  botanists  go  to  the  Latin  dictionary,  the  phys- 
icists to  the  Greek.  There  is  no  invention  in  this, 
no  word -creating.  It  is  merely  ransacking  the 
lumber-room  for  a  disused  tool  and  using  it  over 
again.  In  this  way  we  have  telescope,  the  far- 
seer-,  telegraph,  the  far -writer;  telephone ^^  the 
distant -speaker;  stereoscope,  the  solid -seer,  and 
thousands  of  others.  The  verb  telescope,  as  ap- 
plied to  a  train  of  cars  that  have  been  forced  into 
each  other,  is  a  happy  example  of  the  metaphor- 
ical word -making  power  in  modern  days.  It  is 
an  indigenous  growth  out  of  a  manufactured  word. 
So  also  is  the  use  of  the  word  photograph  for  the 
quick  fixing  of  a  mental  image  on  the  memory. 
A  long  time  is  required  for  these  artificial  words 
to  become  fully  naturalized  in  the  language,  though 
they  are  very  necessary  for  the  naming  of  new  de- 
vices. Multitudes  of  them  drop  out  or  remain  en- 
tombed in  our  dictionaries  alongside  of  many  of 
the  barbarous  Latin  words  of  the  seventeenth  and 
eighteenth  centuries.     Some  of  the  coined  words 

*  And  yet  we  say  "  long-distance  telephone,"  or  long-dis- 
tance long-distance  sjieaker. 


METHOD    OF  WORD-FORMING    INSTINCT.       I27 

of  science  are  very  happy  inventions  ;  as,  afavisjn, 
to  express  the  mysterious  appearance  in  an  indi- 
vidual of  some  mark  of  his  remote  ancestors,  and, 
isot/icrmals,  lines  drawn  through  points  when  the 
mean  annual  temperatures  are  the  same.  The 
conceptions  of  modern  science  are  gradually  col- 
oring our  thought,  and  the  scientific  terminology, 
if  apt  and  striking,  must  more  and  more  enter  our 
daily  speech. 

The  foregoing  are  words  which  enter  the  lan- 
guage at  the  top  and  work  down.  Another  class 
take  the  natural  course  of  entering  at  the  bot- 
tom and  taking  their  chances.  These  are  the 
words  of  indigenous  growth,  or  slang.  Sometimes 
they  are  coined,  but  not  unfrequently  they  spring 
from  an  expressive  folk- metaphor.*  Multitudes 
of  them  die  yearly,  though  they  may  have  a  vigor- 
ous life  for  a  v.-hile.  Xo  one  can  tell  whether  any 
given  slang-word  will  survive.  Dude  and  crank 
are  valuable  words,  and  each  denotes  something 
not  signified  by  any  other  English  word.  Ten 
years  from  this  time  they  may  be  out  of  use,  or 

*  Victor  Plugo  says  {Lcs  J/iscra/'/cs) :  "  Slang  is  a  vestibule 
where  language  disguises  itself  when  it  has  some  crime  to 
commit.  It  puts  on  these  masks  of  words,  these  rags  of 
metaphors."  This  applies  to  an  Ar^^of,  or  slang  dialect. 
Teutonic  slang  is  language  too  full  of  rude,  boisterous  life. 
It  expresses  the  humorous,  not  the  criminal,  attitude  tow- 
ards life.  It  is  a  sign  of  linguistic  health  and  vivacity.  It 
reflects  national  character. 


128  ENGLISH    WORDS. 

they  may  be  in  as  good  standing  as  mob,  once  a 
slang  -  word.  Craiik,^  a  metaphor  from  cranky, 
an  unstable  craft,  if  it  can  establish  itself,  will 
prove  a  valuable  acquisition  and  save  many  a 
tedious  circumlocution.  The  dude  of  1890  is  so 
different  from  the  dandy  of  1S40,  and  the  word  is 
so  expressive  of  one  aspect  of  the  genius  of  our 
age  that  it  ought  to  be  saved,  but  probably  it  will 
"have  to  go."  SiucII,  originally  from  "swell 
mob,"  is  also  expressive  and  seems  to  be  making 
its  way.  Rattled,  demoralization  accompanied  by 
alarm,  is  also  a  good  folk- metaphor.  It  may  be- 
come respectable  and  literary.  These  indigenous 
growths  have  far  more  of  the  genius  of  the  lan- 
guage than  have  the  scientific  formations.  Never- 
theless, they  must  be  received  with  circumspec- 
tion, for  ninety  in  a  hundred  are  ephemeral.  The 
word  shrug  itself  is  comparatively  modern,  and 
originated  in  a  slang  expression  connected  with 
sling.  Now  it  is  an  indispensable  word,  if  not 
strictly  literary. 

*  The  entrance  of  crank  inio  literary  society  would  sccui 
to  be  signalized  Ijy  its  appearance  in  the  title  of  an  article  in 
tlie  Atlantic  Mont/ily  (September,  1S90)  :  ' '  Cranks  as  Social 
Motors."  Max  Miiller's  Science  of  Language  (Second  Se- 
ries, Lecture  viii.)  contains  a  suggestive  disquisition  on  tliis 
subject — the  extension  of  the  meaning  of  words  Ijy  meta- 
phorical use  until  the  metaphor  is  forgotten. 


CHAPTER  XL 

GROUPS    OF    WORDS    WITH    A    COMMON    ROOT. 

To  group  words  under  their  original  Proto-Aryan 
roots  implies  more  philological  knowledge  than 
is  assumed  for  the  readers  of  this  book.  But  in 
every  language  there  are  families  of  words  spring- 
ing from  the  same  root  in  that  language.  This 
relationship  can  be  profitably  examined  by  any 
one,  since  it  illustrates  on  a  small  scale  what  may 
be  called  word-branching,  the  process  by  which 
words,  sometimes  apparently  unrelated  in  mean- 
ing, grow  out  of  the  same  root.  What  could 
at  first  sight  be  more  distinct  in  idea  than  the 
word  post  in  /6'.y/-haste  and  in  iQ\\ZQ.-post.  Yet 
they  are  the  same  in  origin.  Let  us  examine  a 
few  groups  of  English  words  thus  related.  We 
will  take  up  the  words  connected  with  check,  qua- 
tuof  (four),  stick,  post,  stem,  do.  and  a  few  others. 
Skeat's  smaller  Etymological  Dictionary,  which 
groups  words  by  their  root-relationships,  contains 
a  great  deal  of  information  on  this  subject  in  a 
compact  form. 
9 


130  ENGLISH    WORDS. 

Check  is  derived  from  the  game  of  chess,  which 
is  of  Persian  or  Indian  origin,  and  is  much  older 
than  the  EngUsh  language.  '•  Ex  oricnte  lux  ct 
Indus  scacconnn."'  Check-  7nate  is  shah  mat,  the 
king  is  dead,  and  check  is  shah — that  is,  look  out 
for  the  king.  From  this  came  readily  the  mean- 
ing of  a  sudden  repulse,  a  stop,  as  in  chcck-nin, 
check-valve,  to  meet  with  a  check. 

Chess,  the  game,  is  shahs,  shaks  or  checks,  and 
means  the  battle  of  the  kings. 

Checker-board,  or  cJiess-hjard,  is  the  board  of  al- 
ternate squares  on  which  the  game  is  played. 

The  table  on  which  the  accounts  of  the  king's 
treasurer  were  kept  was  called  a  checker-board  or 
exchequer,  because  it  was  painted  with  squares 
of  different  colors.  The  squares  were  used  for 
the  purpose  of  com.putation,  perhaps  with  the  aid 
of  counters.  The  place,  therefore,  was  known  as 
the  "court  of  exchequer,"  tl:!e  e  being  euphonic 
before  s  and  x,  as  in  escheat,  estoj^pel,  etc.  I'he 
treasury  department  is  still  called  the  exchequer, 
in  consequence. 

Check,  a  written  order  for  money  deposited, 
sometimes  pedantically  spelled  cheque,  was  origi- 
nally either  an  exchequer  bill  or  draft  on  the 
treasury,  or  else  connected  with  the  idea  of  a 
check  or  restraint  on  the  pa}-ing  out  of  money  by 
the  one  to  whom  it  is  intrusted. 

The  derivatives  of  quatuor  bear  their  origin  on 


GROUPS    OF  WORDS  WITH    A   COMMON    ROOT.    131 

their  faces.  A  quadrangle  has  four  angles,  and  a 
quadrant  is  the  fourth  part  of  a  circle.  Quadrille 
is  a  game  at  cards  for  four  persons  or  a  dance  for 
four  couples.  Quaternions  is  a  branch  of  mathe- 
matics which  proceeds  as  if  there  were  four  di- 
mensions. Quarry  is  a  place  where  stones  are 
worked  square.  A  quadroon  has  one-quarter  ne- 
gro blood ;  a  quadruped  has  four  feet ;  a  quart  is 
a  quarter  of  a  gallon  ;  a  quarto  is  a  sheet  folded 
into  four  leaves  ;  a  squadron  and  a  squad  is  a 
body  of  troops  in  a  square — a  square  has  four 
sides.  In  all  these  words  except  quarry  the  idea 
of  four  parts  is  very  evident,  and  the  branching 
has  not  proceeded  very  far. 

Yxova.  pono^  besides  the  compounds  deposit  *  e.yi- 
pound,  i!7ipost,  etc.,  v/e  have  the  word  post  in  sev- 
eral quite  different  senses.  Thus,  to  post  a  sen- 
try means  to  assign  him  a  defmite  position  ;  but 
post,  in 

"Thousands  at  his  bidding  liaste, 
And  post  o'er  land  and  sea," 
and  in 

"  My  days  are  swifter  than  a  post," 

*  It  is  odd  enough  tliat  a  hirge  number  of  words  con- 
taining pose — all  that  come  from  the  French — pose,  com- 
pose, dispose,  expose,  propose,  purpose,  repose,  suppose,  and 
transpose,  are  not  from  pono  but  from  pausare,  to  bring  to 
rest  ;  but  everything  connected  with  the  sb.  position,  like 
deponent  or  supposition,  comes  direct  from  the  Latin  pono 
(position).     Two  Latin  verbs  were  confused  in  France. 


132  ENGLISH    WORDS. 

evidently  means  to  move  rapidly.  Post-office,  fence- 
post,  to  post  a  ledger,  post-haste,  post-chaise,  ha\'e 
all  grown  out  of  the  idea  of  position.  Thus  the 
fence-post  is  fixed  in  the  ground,  the  military 
post  is  established  at  a  certain  place,  items  are 
placed  or  posted  in  the  ledger ;  the  post-offices, 
also,  were  established  at  fixed  points  ;  the  post- 
chaise  was  drawn  by  horses  kept  at  the  posts; 
and  to  post  a  letter  and  to  post  in  the  sense  of 
riding  rapidly  are  evidently  derived  from  the  post 
in  post-office. 

Stick  is  a  word  whose  relationship  takes  in  a 
great  many  words.  There  are  really  two  verbs, 
stick,  to  pierce,  and  stick,  to  be  fixed  fast.  A 
butcher  speaks  of  sticking  a  hog,  and  a  wag- 
oner of  sticking  in  the  7nud.  The  active  and 
the  transitive  verb,  though  evidently  different 
words,  are  confounded  in  modern  English,  though 
the  connection  between  piercing  and  holding  fast 
is  evidently  remote.  .5//;/^  is  the  same  as  stick, 
to  pierce,  but  has  retained  its  identity.  From 
this  double  word  stick  come  tick,  ticket,  etiquette, 
stack,  stake,  steak,  stick  fsb.),  stitch,  stock,  stocking, 
and  stoke?-.  Ticket  and  etiquette  come  through  the 
French  from  the  German,  and  are  therefore  dis- 
tant connections.  A  ticket  was  originally  a  little 
bill  or  order  stuck  up  on  the  gate  of  a  court: 
hence  etiquette,  a  rule  of  social  conduct.  Tick, 
credit,  came  from  the  practice  of  buying  things 


GROUPS   OF  WORDS  WITH    A    COMMON    ROOT.    1 33 

without  paying  for  them,  and  having  the  charge 
marked  on  a  card  which  was  stuck  up.  A  mem- 
orandum-book of  charges  is  thus  still  known  as 
"a  tickler,"  and  the  cashier,  when  he  takes  money 
from  the  drawer,  substitutes,  or  should  substitute, 
a  "ticket."  Stack  is  a  pile  stuck  up — that  is,  held 
fast.  A  stake  may  be  something  stuck  fast  in  the 
ground,  or  it  may  be  a  sharp  piece  of  wood  to 
pierce  the  ground.  (We  say  a  horse  staked  him- 
self when  he  is  wounded  by  a  piece  of  wood.) 
A  beefsteak  is  a  bit  of  meat  stuck  on  the  point  of 
a  fork.  A  stick  is  a  small  bit  of  wood,  so  called 
from  its  piercing  or  sticking  into  anything.  A 
printer's  stick  may  be  the  holder  in  which  the 
types  are  stuck,  but  more  probably  is  connected 
with  sto,  to  stand,  and  corrupted.  A  stake  is  money 
held  fast.  Stock,  originally  that  which  is  held  fast, 
as  the  stock  or  stem  of  a  tree,  has  a  great  variety 
of  secondary  meanings,  as  family  stock,  the  stem 
of  the  family  tree,  live-stock,  that  which  is  fixed 
to  the  farm,  the  stock  of  a  gun  in  which  the 
barrel  is  fixed.  Fixed  or  invested  capital  is  also 
stock.  The  machine  in  which  a  malefactor's  legs 
were  fastened  was  called  the  stocks.  The  con- 
nection of  stockings  and  of  stock,  the  stiff  con- 
struction once  worn  about  the  neck  by  men,  does 
not  seem  so  clear.  A  stoker  cleans  his  fire  by 
sticking  a  long  poker  into  it,  and  a  stickleback  is 
a  fish  with  a  stick,  or  something  to  pierce,  on  his 


134  ENGLISH    WORDS. 

back.  As  the  st  appears  in  all  these  words,  we 
may  note  how  much  more  obstinate  a  thing  a  con- 
sonant is  than  a  vowel.  The  combination  si  seems 
to  stand  the  wear  and  tear  of  use  remarkably  well. 
In  the  Norse  tongues  was  a  word  /icil  or  //t7, 
and  in  the  Anglo-Saxon  a  word  hal,  both  meaning, 
substantially,  v.-hole,  entire,  both  distantly  related 
to  the  Greek  kuXoc,  beautiful,  complete.  From  one 
or  the  other  of  these — they  are  really  the  same 
word,  though  one  may  have  been  the  origin  of  an 
English  word  in  one  part  of  the  country  and  the 
other  in  another  part — come  /lale,  hail  (a  greet- 
ing), whole,  heal,  health,  holy,  JialloK',  halibut,  holi- 
day, holly Jioch,  and  wassail.  Wassail  was  Anglo- 
Saxon  Wes-Jial,  be  well  (your  health  !),  and  was  a 
pledge  or  drinking  of  health  at  a  feast.  Hollyhock 
is  the  holy  mallow,  so  called  because  it  was  brought 
from  Palestine.  Halibut  is  the  Jioly  but  or  floun- 
der, a  fish  which  the  Church  allowed  its  votaries 
to  eat  on  fast-days.  The  connection  between  holi- 
ness or  perfection  on  the  one  hand,  and  health  or 
physical  completeness  on  the  other,  is  quite  evi- 
dent, as  is  also  the  connection  between  hail,  a 
greeting,  and  the  original  meaning.  Halloo  has 
no  connection  with  lial,  though  the  sound,  or 
rather  the  spelling,  suggests  that  it  might  have. 
It  is  from  an  Anglo-Saxon  interjection,  eala,  and 
is  confounded  with  the  Norman  call,  Hola,  or  Ho 
there!  the  form  used  by  Shakspeare. 


GROUPS   OF  WORDS  WITH    A  COMMON    ROOT.    1 35 

Another  prolific  root-word  is  the  base  of  the 
Anglo-Saxon  sce?'an,  and  of  the  equivalent  Norse 
word  meaning  to  shear.  Thus  we  have  shcai\  je:r, 
i'lfrt:/- (a  rock),  scare^  score,  shard,  sluxd,  sJiarc,  sheer, 
shire,  sheriff,  shore,  shore  (a  prop),  short,  shirt, 
shirt  —  all  of  the  same  family.  Notice  the  ob- 
duracy of  the  consonant  sound  in  this  instance, 
and  that  the  Norse  members  of  the  connection 
begin  with  sh,  and  the  Anglo-Saxon  with  sh.  The 
relation  of  signification  is  sufficiently  evident,  ex- 
cept, perhaps,  in  the  case  oijeer,  which  Skeat  gives 
as  from  a  Dutch  phrase  meaning  to  shear  the  fool, 
i.e.,  to  jest  at  one.  Score,  meaning  twenty,  comes 
from  the  practice  of  keeping  count  by  notches  on 
a  stick,  as  Robinson  Crusoe  kept  his  diary.  A 
deeper  notch  was  made  at  twenty.  Axemen  still 
score  a  piece  of  timber  before  they  '"  hew  to  the 
line,"  and  we  keep  the  score  of  a  game.  The 
shire  is  territory  divided  from  the  rest,  and  the 
shire -reeve  is  the  executive  officer.  The  shore 
is  the  dividing  line  between  land  and  water. 
When  a  vessel  sheers  off  she  cuts  the  water  at 
an  angle.  A  shore  is  a  prop  cut  to  the  proper 
length,  a  ploughshare  cuts  the  earth,  and  a  share 
of  stock  is  a  part  separated  or  cut  off.  So  with 
shred  and  shard.  A  shirt  is  a  truncated  garment, 
and  a  skirt  is  cut  round  the  bottom.  To  shirt 
along  the  shore  means,  perhaps,  to  make  short 
cuts  from  point  to  point.    Scare  is  more  remotely 


136  ENGLISH   WORDS, 

connected  in  meaning,  as  it  derives  from  Norse 
skerre,  timid,  sliy,  which  is  based  on  the  idea  of 
sheering  off.  This  group  of  words  illustrates  the 
double  Teutonic  source — Norse  and  Low  German 
— of  the  modern  English. 

Do^  to  perform,  comes  from  an  Anglo-Saxon 
word,  as  does  also  do^  to  be  worth,  to  avail.  The 
use  of  the  first  as  an  emphatic  auxiliary,  as  in  '*! 
do  say  so,"  "  I  do  not  think  so,"  is  comparatively 
modern.  From  this  comes  ado,  to-do,  deed,  deem, 
doom,  doof,  dup  (to  do  off  and  to  do  up),  indeed, 
and  deemster  (a  judge).  From  do,  to  avail,  comes 
doughty  (valiant).  "  How  do  you  do  .-*"  is  a  very 
odd  idiom  when  we  examine  it.  ''  How  actualize 
you  in  practicable  availability  ?"  is  about  the  sub- 
stance of  our  daily  salutation. 

Latin  words  have  branched  in  the  original 
language,  and  also  since  their  naturalization  in 
English.  Much  of  this  is  due  to  suffixes  and 
prefixes — compounding  rather  than  growth.  Dn- 
cere  to  lead  ;  tangere,  to  touch  ;  dieere,  to  say ;  and 
agere,  to  perform,  are  familiar  examples.  From 
duco  come  duke,  abduction,  conduce,  conduct  (in  both 
senses),  con  iuit,  douche  (a  shower-bath,  since  the 
water  is  brought  through  a  duct),  doge,  ducat,  duc- 
tile, educate,  introduce,  redoubt  (an  intrenchment 
to  which  to  lead  the  men  back),  reduce,  subdue, 
traduce  (to  lead  a  reputation  to  dishonor),  etc. 

From  tango  come  tangent,    contain,    contagious. 


GROUPS    OF  WORDS  WITH    A    COMMON    ROOT.    1 37 

integer  (a  whole,  intact),  tad  (a  delicate  toucli), 
taste,  and  tax,  of  which  last  the  original  meaning 
was  primarily  to  handle,  hence  to  value,  to  ap- 
praise. 

From  dko  come  diction,  abdicate,  addict,  con- 
dition, contradict,  dedicate,  dictionary,  ditto  (what 
has  been  said),  ditty,  edict,  indicate,  index,  indite, 
preach  (predicare),  predicate  (in  two  senses),  and 
predict.  In  all  of  these  the  connection  of  mean- 
ing is  sufficiently  evident. 

From  agere  we  have  agent  and  act,  agile,  agi- 
tate, ambiguous,  coagulate,  cogent,  cogitate,  enact,  ex- 
act, transact,  and  others  more  remote ;  in  all  of 
which  we  see  the  idea  of  effective  agency. 

The  relationship  of  meaning  in  words  from  the 
Latin  is  usually  very  evident,  though  the  form 
is  sometimes  disguised  in  coming  through  the 
French.  In  miscreant,  originally  unbeliever,  and 
in  recreant,  one  false  to  faith,  the  credo  is  dis- 
guised. So  in  defy,  to  proclaim  all  bonds  of  faith 
broken,  the  fides  does  not  appear.  Frontispiece, 
again,  is  not  connected  with  piece,  but  with  specio, 
and  means  something  to  be  looked  at  in  the  be- 
ginning. In  preface,  from  prcrfatio,  the  root  is 
firi,  to  speak,  x\oX.facio,  to  do.  Of  disguised  forms 
something  will  be  said  hereafter.  The  English 
roots,  however,  have  been  Hiuch  longer  under  the 
iniluence  of  phonetic  changes,  and,  perhaps,  are 
more  susceptible  to  them.    A  few  more  instances, 


138  ENGLISH    WORDS. 

in  no  case  exhaustive,  will  finish  this  branch  of 
the  subject. 

Bcativi,  to  strike,  gives  us  bat,  beetle  (a  wooden 
maul),  and  batter,  a  kind  of  pudding  beaten  up. 

Beo>\{aii,io  shelter,  besides  its  connection  witii 
burough,  di\xQ.?i(\y  spoken  of,  gives  us  (^///'-^'■/t7;'(  prob- 
ably corrupted  from  burgh  and latro),  harbinger  (one 
who  precedes  to  procure  a  harbor),  harbor,  and  eohl 
harbor.  A  cold  harbor  was  an  inn  where  the  trav- 
eller could  procure  shelter  but  no  cooking.  There 
are  a  number  of  places  in  England  still  called 
Cold  Plarbour,  and  one  or  two  in  this  country. 

BIa7uaii,  to  blow,  is  the  origin  of  blaJiLr,  of 
bh-ize,  to  proclaim  after  giving  notice  with  a  horn. 
We  still  speak  of  a  blaze  on  a  tree  (a  mark  which 
proclaims  a  boundary),  bhire  (of  a  trumpet),  blis- 
ter, and  bloat.  Skeat  says,  however,  that  the  con- 
nection between  bh)zii  and  bloat  is  conjectp.ral, 
Bh-itant  and  bU\it  plainly  belong  here. 

From  bryiien.  to  burn,  comes  bro'ivu,  brimstone, 
brandy,  brand,  and  brindled.  Skeat  places  br:int 
here,  as  if  the  brunt  of  the  battle  was  connect- 
ed with  a  burning  or  hot  fight,  which  seems  odd 
enough. 

From  ceapian,  to  bu}-,  we  have  our  word  eJicap, 
diapman,  chaffer ;  and  in  composition,  Cheapside 
and  Copenhagen,  the  merchan's  haven.  Since 
buying  necessitates  trading  or  exchange,  we  have 
chop  in  the  phrases  '"to  chop  logic,'' and  '•  the  wind 


GROUPS    OF  WORDS  WITH    A   COMMON    ROOT.    1 39 

chops  "  or  changes  its  direction.  Tlie  result  is  a 
•'  chopping  sea."  In  this  last  we  have  gone  some 
distance  from  the  idea  of  purchase,  but  each  step 
is  logical. 

Dae/ia/i,  to  divide,  is  found  in  the  phrase  "  a 
good  deal,'''  a  considerable  part ;  dole,  a  portion 
of  food  given  in  charity ;  deal,  a  piece  of  wood 
and  to  deal  the  cards.  Distantly  connected  are 
dale  and  dell,  a  division  or  cleft  in  the  hills. 

Wyrt,  an  herb,  appears  in  wort— St.  John's  liwrt, 
etc.;  in  wart,  a  growth  on  the  finger;  in  orchard, 
or  wort-yard.  Orchard  could  not  come  from  hor- 
tus,  a  garden,  because  the  last  syllable  must  be 
accounted  for. 

Our  large  modern  dictionaries  give  the  etymol- 
ogies of  words  so  fully  that  these  few  examples 
are  quoted  merely  to  incite  the  reader  to  look  up 
others  for  himself.  Take  the  following  words  : 
wit,  war,  wade,  tell,  shoot,  pike,  inoio,  batch,  bear, 
can,  food,  clover,  knozc,  dray,  and  note  their  con- 
nections, some  of  which  are  very  peculiar.  There 
is  no  branch  of  the  subject  in  which  conjecture  is 
more  apt  to  be  misleading  than  in  accounting  for 
the  different  meanings  of  words  similar  in  sound. 
Long  experience  sometimes  fails  to  impart  a  trust- 
worthy judgment,  so  capricious  seems  the  popular 
method  of  transferring  meanings.  In  default  of 
an  historical  sequence  great  caution  is  necessary, 
but  sometimes  not  observed. 


CHAPTER    XII. 

ERRONEOUS      DERIVATIONS. 

Etymologists  are  far  from  being  infallible. 
The  usual  causes  of  mistakes  are  excessive  inge- 
nuity and  disregard  of  the  method  in  which  the 
human  mind  works  in  forming  a  language  and  in 
transferring  the  meaning  of  words  from  one  thing 
to  another,  or  else  ignorance  of  the  way  in  v^-hich 
old  sounds  and  spellings  have  been  modified. 
Thus  Dr. Thomas  Fuller,  a  man  of  sense  and  acute- 
ness,  says  :  "As  for  those  that  count  the  Tartars  the 
offspring  of  the  ten  tribes  of  Israel  which  Shalma- 
nasar  led  away  captive,  because  Totari  signifyeth 
in  the  Hebrew  and  Syriac  tongue  a  residue,  or 
remnant,  learned  men  have  sufficiently  confuted 
it.  And  surely  it  seemeth  a  forced  and  over- 
strained deduction  to  farre  fetch  the  name  of 
Tartars  from  a  Hebrew  word,  a  language  so  far 
distant  from  them." 

"The  theorj  of  Fuller,"  says  Professor  Marsh, 
"  was  better  than  his  practice,  for  he  derives  com- 
pliinait  from  compkii  viaifiri,  and  not  from  com- 


ERRONEOUS    DERIVATIONS.  141 

pktio  mentis,  because  compliments  are  usually 
completely  mendacious.''  *  Elsewhere  he  quotes, 
with  seeming  assent,  Sir  John  Harrington's  ridicu- 
lous derivation  of  the  old  English  clf  and  goblin 
from  the  two  great  political  families,  Guelf  and 
Ghibbeline.  Thus,  also,  alnwiinable,  which  is  evi- 
dently derived  from  the  Latin  ab  and  omen,  and 
involves  the  notion  of  what  is  religiously  profane 
and  detestable — "the  abominations  of  the  hea- 
then," for  example — was  supposed  to  be  derived 
from  ab  and  hoino,  as  if  it  signified  something  in- 
human. For  a  long  time  it  was  spelled  abhomi- 
nable,  in  accordance  with  this  forced  derivation, 
and  though  the  error  in  the  spelling  has  not  been 
perpetuated,  the  word  itself  has  taken  up  the 
meaning  of  something  repugnant  to  humanity  and 
not  merely  sacrilegious. 

The  word  Amazon  is  frequently  given  as  com- 
pounded of  a,  primitive,  and  jnazon  (Greek),  the 
breast,  with  the  explanation  that  the  tribe  of  fe- 
male warriors  which  bore  the  name,  cut  off  their 
left  breasts  to  acquire  greater  facility  in  draw- 
ing the  bow.  This  is  so  evidently  absurd  that 
the  error  is  repeated  in  our  dictionaries  simply 
because  no  one  has  made  a  better  guess  at  the 
derivation. 

*  Compliment  and  complement  (math.)  are  both  couiplctc- 
nu'iif,  or  filling  up.  Extending  courtesies,  flattery,  complying 
with  wishes,  is  a  meaning  easily  derived  from  "filling  up." 


142  ENGLISH    WORDS. 

Mariposa^  the  Spanish  for  butterfi}',  is  some- 
times referred  to  marc,  the  sea,  zxi^ posa,  position 
or  rest,  because  the  insect  flutters  auiilessly  and 
then  alights,  and  the  sea  is  sometimes  in  motion 
and  sometimes  quiet.  Anything  more  flatly  sen- 
timental than  this  derivation  cannot  easily  be 
imagined.  It  has  not  even  the  merit  of  being  a 
really  poetical  invention. 

Again,  the  word  pie  is  referred  in  Webster  to 
pastry  by  a  desperate  guess.  By  this  method  all 
words  beginning  in  /  and  of  similar  meaning 
would  be  connected.  But  words  are  connected 
by  some  law  which  governs  the  relation  of  the 
different  sounds  and  meanings,  and  not  hap- 
hazard. The  word/zV  is  probably  a  Celtic  word, 
like  many  of  the  elementary  kitchen-words,  and 
dates  from  the  time  when  Celtic  slaves  performed 
the  rnenial  offices  of  the  kitchen.  The  pie  in 
magpie  is  another  word  connected  with  the  Latin 
piciis,  a  woodpecker. 

Pic  or  //,  meaning  a  heap  of  type,  probably 
comes  from  pica,  the  name  of  a  certain  size  of 
type,  which  might  be  applied  to  an  unassorted 
heap. 

One  source  of  absurd  etymologies  is  the  resem- 
blance in  the  sound  of  words  of  different  mean- 
ings in  two  languages.  Because  a  Latin  and  Greek 
word  sound  alike  v.-e  are  tempted  to  think  them 
allied,  whereas  resemblance  of  sound  is  a  reason 


ERRONEOUS    DERIVATIONS.  1 43 

for  regarding  the  words  as  from  different  roots. 
We  take  it  for  granted  tliat  the  Spanish  mucho 
and  our  much  are  the  same,  whereas  there  is  no 
connection  between  them,  nor  is  there  any  be- 
tween the  Greek  oXoe  and  our  word  whole.  Dr. 
Johnson  in  his  dictionary  gave  cunnndgcon  as  de- 
rived from  the  French  cociir  vurhaaf,  a  wicked 
heart.  In  reality  it  comes  from  coni-niudgin^ 
one  who  stores  up  grain  to  create  an  artificial 
scarcity.* 

A  salt-ccUar  is  referred  to  as  if  it  were  a  cell  iii 
which  to  hold  salt.  The  v/ord  cellar  is  originally 
sa/arius,  a  salt-holder,  and  has  nothing  to  do  with 
cell,  which  is  connected  v.-ith  celare,  to  conceal. 

The  expression  stone-blind  means  either  blind 
as  a  stone,  or  else  refers  to  the  stony  look,  as  of  a 
white  pebble,  in  the  eyes  of  those  afflicted  with  a 
certain  form  of  blindness.  Having  this  expres- 
sion, we  have  manufactured  another,  sand-blind, 
out  of  semi-blind,  to  express  near-sightedness. 
Because  sand  is  finer  than  stones,  men  jumped  at 
the  conclusion  that  the  proper  expression  for  a 
degree  less  than  stone-blindness  would  be  "  sand- 

*  Dr.  Tohnson  gave  "curmudgeon"  as  from  c<xii)  and 
liicciiant,  and  added  tlie  words  "  unknown  correspondent," 
referring  to  his  authority.  Ashe,  copying  from  Johnson, 
makes  another  more  Uidicrous  mistake.  He  wrote:  "Cur- 
mudgeon from  cccur,  unknown,  and  iiiLchaitt,  correspond- 
ent." 


144  ENGLISH    WORDS. 

blind."  Launcelot,  in  the  "  Merchant  of  Venice," 
goes  on  to  divide  the  scale  again  by  inventing 
the  term  gravel-blind  * 

Pliny  actually  thought  that  \\\q.  panther  was  so 
called  from  -av  (\>(.\m)v^  as  if  the  animal  combined 
the  elements  of  all  wild  beasts — was  an  epitome 
of  savage  life ;  and  another  writer  says  the  Latin 
apis  is  derived  from  the  Greek  ci/rouc,  footless,  be- 
cause at  one  stage  of  their  existence  bees  are 
footless  grubs. 

In  his  powerful  poem,  "  Childe  Roland," 
Browning  uses  the  expression  slng-Iiorn: 

"  I   put  the  slug-horn  to  my  lips  and  l)le\v." 

Sliig-Jiorn  has  a  fine  flavor  of  the  Dark  Ages, 
and  suggests  a  connection  with  slug  and  slaught- 
er, as  if  it  meant  a  battle-horn.  But  its  origin 
lies  in  a  mistake  of  Chatterton's  as  to  the  mean- 
ing of  the  Celtic  slogan,  sometimes  written  slog- 
gornc.  So  he  wrote,  "  some  caught  a  slug-horn 
and  an  onset  wound,"  under  the  impression  that 
a  sloggorne  was  a  musical  instrument  and  not  a 
battle-cry.  Browning  took  from  him  the  v.ord 
"slug-horn,"'  which  is  so  expressive  that  it  is  a 
pity  there  is  not  something  real  to  base  it  on. 

'^  Launcilot.  "This  is  my  true-begotten  fatlier,  wlio  be- 
ing more  than  sand-blind,  high  gravel-blind,  knows  me  not." 
— "  Merchant  of  Venice,"  Act  II.,  Scene  ii.,  line  30. 


ERRONEOUS   DERIVATIONS.  1 45 

Some  one  says  that  legend  is  derived  from  lii- 
gejidc,  lying,  because  a  legend  has  often  so  slight 
a  foundation.  Legends  are  legenda^  tales  of  the 
martyrs  or  saints,  read  in  the  churches,  "written 
with  a  purpose."  So  untrustv.-orthy  were  they 
that  legend  has  now  come  to  mean  a  tale  pur- 
porting to  be  history,  but  evidently  not  founded 
on  fact.  A  tradition,  on  the  other  hand — mean- 
ing originally  some  statement  handed  down  orally 
from  fatlier  to  son  —  is  regarded  as  having  prob- 
ably a  nucleus  of  truth.  Legends  are  frequently 
invented  to  account  for  geographical  names,  and 
frequently  based  on  some  etymological  mistake. 

Thus,  there  is  a  mountain  in  Switzerland  called 
Pilate's  Mount,  and  a  legend  has  been  invented 
to  account  for  the  name.  There  is  a  small  lake 
near  the  summit,  and  it  is  said  that  Pontius  Pilate 
committed  suicide  by  drowning  himself  in  it,  im- 
pelled by  remorse  for  his  part  in  the  Crucifixion. 
In  reality,  the  name — Mons  Pilatns^  or  the  hatted 
hill — comes  from  the  fact  that  the  summit  is  fre- 
quently surrounded  by  clouds,  a  phenomenon 
which  has  given  a  name  to  many  mountains. 

Sometimes  the  legend  is  invented,  as  in  the 
above  case,  to  fit  the  name,  and  sometimes  the 
name  is  given  to  suit  the  legend.  The  most  com- 
mon error,  however,  is  the  warping  of  the  spelling 
or  pronunciation  of  a  foreign  name  to  render  it 
similar  to  some  word  in  the  vernacular.  Atten- 
10 


146  ENGLISH    WORDS. 

tion  has  already  been  called  to  the  curious  cor- 
ruptions of  some  French  geographical  names  in 
our  country.  [Many  other  instances  could  be 
given.  The  mountain  near  the  head  of  the  bay 
of  Fundy,  called  Chapcati  Dicit,  from  tiae  cap  of 
cloud  which  often  overhangs  it,  is  now  known  as 
the  Shcpody  Mountain.  In  England,  "  Chateau 
Vert  has  become  S/iotozxr,  Beau  Chef,  Beeehy,  and 
Burg  Walter,  the  castle  of  Walter  of  Douay,  who 
came  over  with  William  the  Conqueror,  now  ap- 
pears in  the  form  of  Bridgeicater.  Leighton  beau 
desert  has  been  changed  into  Leighton  Buzzard, 
and  the  brazen  eagle  which  forms  the  lecturn  in 
the  parish  church  is  exhibited  by  the  sexton  as 
the  original  buzzard  from  which  the  place  derived 
its  name."  Cape  Horn  we  naturally  suppose  to 
be  so  called  because  it  is  the  end  or  horn  of  the 
Continent,  whereas  it  is  named  from  its  discoverer. 
In  England  the  yeomen  of  the  household  guard 
are  called  beef-eaters.  The  derivation  of  this  word 
is  probably  what  the  spelling  indicates — at  least 
there  is  no  evidence  to  the  contrar\-.  With  an 
excess  of  ingenuity,  the  etymologists  of  the  last 
generation  conjectured  the  origin  to  be  buff  tier, 
or  waiter  at  a  bufft,  a  sideboard.  The  derivation 
of  the  American  expression  '•  I  don't  care  a  hoot- 
er'' from  ''don't  care  an  iota"  is  so  plausible 
that  it  would  be  a  pity  to  have  it  disproved.  In- 
stances of  the  corruption  of  words  by  a  popular  de- 


ERRONEOUS    DERIVATIONS.  1 47 

sire  to  express  the  etymology  are  :  sparroio-grass 
for  asparagus,  court-cards  for  coat- cards,  shuttle- 
cock for  shuttlecork,  maul-  stick  for  mahlcrstuck, 
crayfish  for  ecrevisse,  dormouse  for  donneuse,  dan- 
delion for  dent  de  lion,  country -dance  for  contrc- 
danse.  In  Webster s  Unabridgsd,  haberdasher  was 
said  to  come  from  the  German,  '"Habt  Ihr  dass, 
HerrV  The  English  sailors  called  the  ship  Belle- 
rophon  "Bully  Ruffian,"  and  the  Hirondelle  the 
"  Iron  Devil ;"'  and  the  English  mob  called  Ibra- 
him Pasha  '"Abraham  Parker."  It  will  be  seen 
that  the  professionals  are  sometimes  as  ingenious 
as  the  uninstructed. 

In  Scott's  novel  of  The  Pirate,  Noma  lived  on 
the  Fitful  Head — a  not  inappropriate  name.  It 
comes  from  the  old  Xorse  name  Huit  Fell,  or  white 
headland.  Cunning  Garth,  in  Westmoreland,  was 
originally  the  King's  (Koening's)  Yard.  A  widely- 
spread  etymological  error  was  the  notion  that 
A'/;/^'' was  originally  Kenning,  the  man  who  knows, 
or,  as  Carlyle  puts  it,  "  the  man  who  is  able — who 
can."  In  reality  the  iiig  is  the  Saxon  patronymic 
suffix.  Koening  is  the  son  of  the  kin  or  tribe. 
De7'il  was  once  supposed  to  be  from  do  evil.  The 
name  God,  by  a  natural  moral  impulse,  was  sup- 
posed to  be  connected  with  the  same  root  as  good, 
though  a  little  reflection  would  have  made  the 
etymology  suspected,  for  God  is  a  very  old  Teu- 
tonic word,  and   certainlv  antedates  Christianitv 


148  ENGLISH    WORDS, 

by  many  centuries.  But  an  ante- Christian  con- 
ception of  deity  never  refers  to  the  attribute  of 
goodness.  On  the  contrar\-,  savage  tribes  are  im- 
pressed with  the  idea  of  a  being  of  irresponsible 
power,  and  therefore  the  root  of  the  word  God 
means  that  which  can  be  propitiated.  If  the  Teu- 
tonic race,  or  any  other,  could  have  worlced  out 
by  themselves  the  belief  in  universal  goodness, 
here  would  have  been  little  need  of  a  revelation. 
The  Greeks  called  Jerusalem  Hicrosolyma,  as 
if  it  were  the  sacred  city  of  Solomon.  It  is  said 
that  the  name  Tatars  was  in  the  thirteenth  cen- 
tury changed  into  Tartars,  to  carry  the  idea  that 
the  hordes,  whose  invasion  was  thought  to  be  a 
fulfilment  of  the  prediction  of  the  opening  of  hell, 
were  direct  from  Tartarus.  The  tower  of  Saint 
Verena,  near  Grenoble,  is  called  Le  Tour  Sans 
Vcniii,  and  to  fit  the  name  the  peasantry  have  orig- 
inated the  superstition  that  no  poisonous  animal 
can  live  near  it.  In  New  York  there  is  a  square 
called  '■  Grammercy  Park,''  a  name  which  might 
readily  be  supposed  to  be  of  P'rench  origin.  J]ut 
on  an  old  map  the  locality  is  marked  as  occupied 
by  a  pond  called  Dc  Krounnc  Zee,  the  crooked 
pond.  Equipage  has  nothing  to  do  with  cquus,  a 
horse,  but  is  from  equip,  to  furnish.  Hessians  are 
not  the  boots  worn  by  Hessians,  but  the  word 
is  probably  connected  with  hose,  since  the  shoe 
and  the  lesf-coverins;  are  united.     Ilan-^nail  is  a 


ERROXEOUS    DERIVATIONS.  149 

nail  that  gives  pain,  or  (7/iguish,  not  one  that  hangs 
loose.  Gingerly  does  not  refer  to  ginger,  but  is 
from  an  old  English  root.  I)ic\'utivc  is  not  that 
which  incenses  or  causes  to  burn,  but  comes  from 
incaiitare,  to  excite  by  singing,  and  is  allied  to 
incantations. 

Mr.  Taylor  calls  attention  to  the  insistence  with 
which  Teutonic  nations  try  to  tv/ist  old  Celtic 
local  names  into  a  form  in  which  they  would  be 
susceptible  of  explanation  from  their  ov>-n  lan- 
guages. The  Celtic  words  alt  viacn  mean  high 
rock.  In  the  Lake  District  this  name  has  been 
transformed  into  the  "(9///  Man  of  Coniston."  In 
the  Orkneys  a  peak  or  dome  fifteen  hundred  feet 
high  is  called  the  ''Old  Man  of  Hoy."  The 
Dead  Man,  another  Cornish  headland,  is  a  cor- 
ruption of  the  Celtic  dod  mean.  Brown  Willy,  a 
Cornish  mountain  ridge,  is  a  corruption  of  Bryn 
Iluel,  the  tin -mine  ridge.  Abcnnau',t\\&  mouth 
of  the  Maw,  has  become  Barmouth. 

Maidenhead  was  originally  Mayden  hithe,  the 
'•wharf  mid.vay"  between  Marlow  and  Windsor. 
From  this  name  arose  the  myth  that  the  head  of 
one  of  the  eleven  thousand  virgins  of  Cologne 
was  buried  here.  Again,  Maidstone  and  Magde- 
burg are  not  the  maiden  towns,  but  one  is  the 
town  on  the  Medv\-ay,  and  the  other  the  town  of 
the  plain.  Anse  de  Cousins,  the  Musquito's  bay, 
has    been   transformed    by   English   sailors   into 


150  ENGLISH    WORDS. 

Nancy  Cousin  s  bay.  Ilagcms,  the  Norse  name 
of  one  of  the  Scilly  isles,  has  become  St.  Agnes, 
and  Horace's  Mountain  of  Soracte  is  added  to  the 
Ust  of  saints  by  the  Italian  peasantry  as  St.  Oreste. 
In  Xew  Brunswick,  the  river  Quah-Tah-  ]Va!i-Ani- 
Quaii-Dua7'ic,  probably  the  most  unmanageable 
name  in  the  Gazeteer,  has  been  abbreviated  into 
the  Petam  Kcdiac,  and  transformed  by  the  lum- 
ber men  into  Tom  Kcdgwick.  In  nearly  every  lo- 
cality are  to  be  found  Indian  names  thus  changed. 
No  doubt  Tonihigby  is  an  instance,  and  there  was 
once  a  tendency  to  call  Appalachian,  Apple-acorn. 

The  following  extract  from  the  Critic  \s\\\  show, 
however,  that  it  is  not  always  the  unlearned  who 
invent  words  : 

"An  amusing  illustration  of  the  mechanical  way 
in  which  dictionaries  have  been  made,  is  furnished 
by  the  word ///c?;//.';;;///^?//;^//,  which  appears  in  Web- 
ster, Worcester,  tlie  Imperial,  and  Casse/t's  Encyclo- 
pedic Dictionary.  W/^ster  solemnly  defines  it  thus : 
'  Phantomnation  ;/.  Appearance  as  of  a  phantom ; 
illusion.  [Obs.  and  rare.]  Pope.''  JVorcester  says 
simply:  'Illusion.  Pope.'  'Yho.  I.'nperiat  ■^.wd  Cas- 
selPs  repeat  this  bit  of  lexicographic  wisdom ; 
but  the  latter  omits  the  reference  to  Pope,  appar- 
ently suspecting  that  something  is  the  matter 
somewhere.  Now  the  source  of  this  word  is  a 
book,  entitled  IViilology  on  t/ie  English  Language, 
published  in   1S20,  by  Richard    Paul  Jodrell,  as 


ERRONEOUS    DERIVATIONS.  151 

a  sort  of  supplement  to  y.)/inso/is  Dictionary. 
Jodrell  had  a  curious  way  of  writing  phrases  as 
single  words,  without  even  a  hyphen  to  indicate 
their  composite  character ;  thus,  under  his  wonder- 
working pen,  city  solicitor  became  '  citysolicitor,' 
/lorne  acquaintance  '  homeacquaintance  ' — and  so 
on  indefinitely.  He  remarks  in  his  preface  that 
it  'was  necessary  to  enact  laws  for  myself,'  and  he 
appears  to  have  done  so  with  great  vigor.  Of 
course  he  followed  his  'law'  wlien  he  transcribed 
the  following  passage  from  Pope  : 

Tliese  solemn  vows  and  lioly  offerings  paid 
To  all  the  phantom  nations  of  the  dead. 

OJyssry,  X.,  627. 

P/iantoni  stations  became  '  phantomnations,'  and 
the  '  great  standards  of  the  English  language  ' 
were  enriched  with  a  '  new  word  !'  There  is  a 
difference,  however,  between  Jodrell  and  his  fol- 
lowers :  //J  knew  what  Pope  meant.  ]Vct)stcrs 
definition  is  entirely  original.  Tliis  appears  to 
have  been  the  best  instance  of  a  'ghost-word'  on 
record." 

Upstart,  the  name  applied  to  a  person  whose 
antecedents  do  not  justify  his  pretensions,  is  given 
in  JVt'bstcr's  Unahridi^cd  as  from  up  and  start.  The 
verb  undoubtedly  has  this  derivation,  but  the  noun 
is  from  ///  and  start,  or  stcort,  a  tail,  the  same  word 
which  appears  in  the  name  of  the  bird,  redstart, 


152  ENGLISH    WORDS. 

and  in  siark-jiakcd.  Acorn  was  very  naturally 
supposed  to  be  oak-corn :  but  ?\Ir.  Skeat  shows 
that  it  meant  originally  wild  fruit,  and  is  based  on 
acker,  a  field — cognate  with  Latin  a^^^rr.  There- 
fore, Chaucer  was  right  and  not  tautological  when 
he  wrote,  "  acornes  of  okes." 

Andiron  is  another  word  in  which  a  false  idea 
of  the  etymology  has  changed  the  spelling.  Its 
real  etymology  is  obscure,  but  it  has  nothing  to 
do  with  iron.  But  there  was  a  term  in  Saxon — 
Brand-iron  —  having  nearly  the  same  meaning, 
v.'ith  which  the  old  word  ajidcrnc  became  confused. 

Apace  is  used  very  early  to  signify  rapidly. 

Gallop  apace,  yc  ficry-footed  stec'ls. — Marlo^LW 

But  it  meant  in  Chaucer's  time,  slowly.  He  writes 
it  a  pas,  signifying  at  a  walk. 

Condign  is  now  applied  to  punishment  alone, 
but  originally  had  the  meaning  of  merited,  con- 
dignns,  in  a  general  way,  so  that  it  was  proper  to 
say.  "'a  condign  reward"'  as  v.-ell  as  '"a  condign 
punishment."'  This  is,  howtiver.  nut  an  instance 
of  an  erroneous  etymology,  but  of  a  limitation  of 
the  original  meaning  of  a  word. 

Sirioi/i  is  a  well-known  instance  of  an  errone- 
ous etymology,  detected  many  years  ago.  It  was 
once  said  that  Henry  VIII.  knighted  jestingly  a 
noble  loin  of  beef.     It  is  really  snr,  or  supra,  loin. 

Surly  was  supposed  to  be  sourl}\  but  the  early 


ERRONEOUS    DERIVATIONS.  153 

spelling  makes  it  highly  probable  that  it  is  from 
sir-like,  having  the  meaning  inipcrious,  from  which 
the  transition  to  its  present  force  is  easy  enough. 
It  would  thus  be  analogous  to  lordly,  which  has  re- 
tained the  original  meaning  of  arrogant  bearing. 

Dog-cJicap  is  an  odd  word,  when  we  think  of 
it.  It  was  explained  by  saying  that  dog's-meat 
was  of  a  poorer  quality,  but  so  is  that  of  cats 
and  other  carnivorous  animals.  There  is  a  Swed- 
ish dialect  word,  dog,  meaning  very,  and  this  dog 
in  dog-cheap  is  probably  the  same  word,  though 
cheap  is  not  Scandinavian.  Cheap,  meaning  to  buy, 
is  a  very  old  word  in  English,  though  probably  of 
Latin  origin.     Dog-cheap,  then,  is  very  cheap. 

The  word  cock  illustrates  as  well  as  any  other 
the  many  sources  from  which  English  has  sprung : 
First,  is  cock,  the  male  bird,  from  Latin  through 
French,  and  from  this  comes  the  use  of  i\i\:n-cock, 
on  account  of  some  fancied  resemblance  to  the  tail 
of  the  fowl;  second,  a  cock  of  hay  is  Scandina- 
vian: third,  '"to  cock  one's  eye,"  or  a  cocked  hat, 
is  Celtic  ;  fourth,  the  cock  of  a  gun  is  Italian, 
meaning  the  notch  of  an  arrow,  and  probably  the 
retaining  notch  on  a  cross-bow.  The  Germans 
have,  by  a  natural  etymological  confusion,  trans- 
lated this  cock  by  hah/i — ^' tlen  hahn  span/ie/i,''  to 
cock  the  gun ;  fifth,  cock,  in  tlie  sense  of  a  small 
boat,  as  used  in  '"Lear,'''  and  as  compounded  in 
cockswain,  is  a  widely-spread  word,  also  from  Latin 


154  ENGLISH    WORDS. 

through  French,  but  not  connected  with  the  first 
word,  though  from  the  same  source. 

Wormwood  is  given  in  Webster*  as  taking  its 
name  from  the  fact  that  its  bitter  taste  made  it 
fatal  to  worms.  Tlie  old  spelling,  toermode,  shows 
that  this  is  not  the  derivation.  It  was  then  con- 
jectured that  it  meant  7i'arc-7not/i,  something  that 
drives  off  insects.  This  hypothesis  v/as  found  to 
be  equally  untenable,  and  Mr.  Skeat  conjectures 
that  the  original  meaning  was  warc-iiioad,  or  mind- 
preserver,  from  the  "supposed  curative  properties 
of  the  plant  in  mental  affections,"  which  is  at  least 
equally  ingenious  and  much  more  probable. 

The  above  examples  will  suffice  to  sliow  that 
etymology  is  full  of  blind  alleys,  and  that  the  only 
safe  method  is  the  scientific  one,  of :  First,  gath- 
ering facts  patiently ;  secondly,  classifying  the 
facts  till  a  general  principle  can  be  enunciated ; 
and,  thirdly,  using  this  general  principle  with  great 
care  in  examining  the  residual  facts  v/hich  are  not 
readily  explainable  by  the  theory,  but  never  forc- 
ing the  facts  into  the  theory. 

*  //'(7m/i7- licre  means  the  Uiial! id^^id.  All  tlie  errors  are 
correcled  in  the  Iiitc7iiatiomil,  or  last  edition  of  ]Vcbsicr. 


CHAPTER   XIII. 

ODD    AND    DISGUISED    DERIVATIONS. 

The  changes  of  pronunciation  to  which  words 
are  subject  are  never  abrupt.  If  they  were  so 
the  word  would  lose  its  identity.  The  phonetic 
lav/  governing  the  change  works  very  slowly, 
though  much  more  rapidly  at  some  periods  than 
at  others  ;  but  the  result  is  a  gradual  change,  a 
growth,  and  the  operation  is  largely  an  uncon- 
scious one.  Spelling,  on  the  other  hand,  is  arti- 
ficial, and  since  the  invention  of  printing  has 
developed  very  little.  Originally  it  was  largely 
phonetic,  and  in  some  instances  great  pains  were 
taken  to  make  the  letters  represent  the  sound  of 
the  words  as  pronounced  at  the  time.  Our  mod- 
ern spelling  is  traditionary  and  made  up  of  "un- 
considered remnants."  It  is  entirely  arbitrar}-, 
and  must  always  remain  so,  because  a  group  of 
letters  must  represent  a  word,  and  a  word  is  not 
a  definite  sound  but  a  changing  sound.  Early 
spelling,  however,  indicates  early  pronunciation, 
or  at  least  comparative  pronunciation,  which  is 


156  EXGLISH    WORDS. 

the  most  that  we  can  hope  to  arrive  at  in  reading 
an  unspoken  or  obsolete  tongue.  It  is  altogether 
improbable  that  Chaucer  or  Shakspeare  could 
understand  their  ov.-n  works  as  read  by  a  modern, 
especially  by  one  who  aims  to  reproduce  the  an- 
cient pronunciation.  Nevertheless,  we  can  say 
quite  confidently  that  a  certain  combination  of 
letters  represented  a  definite  sound  in  a  thirteenth 
century  book — in  the  Orjui/Inni  (a.d.  12 15),  for 
instance,  which  is  a  great  deal  more  than  we  can 
say  of  any  modern  book,  although  it  may  be  im- 
possible to  reproduce  the  sound  vocally.  It  is 
evident,  then,  that  early  spelling  is  very  useful — 
indeed  indispensable — in  tracing  the  pedigree  of 
words.  Sometimes  a  single,  apparently  superflu- 
ous, letter  in  a  modern  word  betrays  its  origin. 
Letters  as  the  indications  of  ancient  pronuncia- 
tion are  the  main  guides  in  seeking  for  derivatives. 
The  value  for  etymological  research  of  the  si- 
lent, useless,  and  arbitrarily  sounded  letters  in 
English  words  is,  of  course,  no  argument  against 
phonetic  spelling,  and  certainly  none  against  such 
a  moderate  reform  as  would  greatly  lessen  the 
number  of  letters  we  are  forced  to  v/rite,  and  sub- 
ject English  orthography  to  at  least  the  outline 
of  a  system.  The  v,ords  in  their  antique  gar- 
ments would  remain  embalmed  in  old  books  and 
dictionaries  for  the  use  of  pliilologists.  A  spell- 
ing   reform    is    impossible   for   another   reason. 


ODD   AND   DISGUISED    DERIVATIONS.  1 57 

Printers  and  proof-readers  will  never  permit  it  to 
be  brought  about.  I'hey  have  been  forced  to 
learn  a  certain  system  before  they  could  obtain 
employment  and  cannot  now  learn  another.  Any 
modification  of  our  present  absurd  system  of 
spelling  English  words  is  hopeless,  however  de- 
sirable, on  account  of  the  practical  difficulty  of 
initiating  changes  in  the  memories  of  a  great  body 
of  adults.  If  it  could  be  made  fashionable  to 
spell  lawlessly  the  first  step  would  be  taken,  for 
then  perhaps  a  coherent  system  might  grow  out 
of  the  ruins  of  the  old  one. 

The  changes  in  meaning  through  which  a 
word  sometimes  passes  in  succeeding  generations, 
though  nearly  always  logical,  are  sometimes  very 
complex.  Consequently,  if  a  link  of  the  historical 
sequence  is  lost  it  is  dangerous  to  attempt  to 
supply  it  by  conjecture.  An  abstract  word  grows 
out  of  a  concrete  word  because  we  learn  by  ex- 
perience to  know  concrete  things  first.  But  some- 
times the  meaning  is  boldly  transferred  in  the 
other  direction  by  an  exercise  of  the  radical  met- 
aphor-building faculty.  The  word  is  compounded 
with  other  words,  and  one  of  the  words  becomes 
an  inseparable  prefix  or  suffix,  modifying  the  pro- 
nunciation or  moving  the  accent.  These  changes, 
too,  are  growths,  but  sometimes  they  are  very 
rapid,  especially  so  during  the  formative  period 
of  the  language.     They  take  place,  too,  largely 


158  ENGLISH    WORDS. 

in  the  oral  language  r.nd  may  not  be  recorded. 
Usually  every  step  of  the  changes  in  meaning 
can  be  readily  explained  if  it  can  be  uncovered. 
But  the  range  of  the  metaphorical  word-building 
power  is  very  great,  and  it  works  on  individual 
words.  Its  results  are,  therefore,  much  more  dif- 
ficult to  follow  than  are  those  of  the  sound- 
changing  power,  which  works  in  uniform  lines  on 
great  bodies  of  words  and  within  physical  limits. 
These  points,  especially  the  last,  explain  why 
some  derivations  seem  odd  or  unaccoui-itable. 
Some  of  the  words  mentioned  in  the  last  chapter 
are  illustrations  of  this,  but  there  are  others  in 
which  the  connection  between  origin  and  mean- 
ing is  even  less  obvious.  How  comes  it  that 
the  \\ox<l  frank,  which  probably  meant  a  javelin, 
should  now  mean  outspoken  ?  The  Franks  of 
history  were  originally  a  body  of  High  Germans 
— a  colonizing  army  rather  than  a  tribe — and  one 
of  their  arms  was  a  spear.  They  called  them- 
selves spearmen  or  Franks.  The  territory  they 
conquered  came  to  be  known  as  France.  The 
members  of  the  dominant  people  retained  as  the 
inheritance  of  conquerors  certain  civic  privileges 
or  immunities  from  civic  burdens.  It  is  easy  to 
see  how  Fraiik-rig/ifs  became  the  origin  of  fran- 
chise, and  as  a  member  of  the  ruling  race  can 
safely  speak  his  mind,  how  frank  came  to  mean 
outspoken. 


ODD   AND    DISGUISED    DERIVATIONS.  1 59 

Free  is  a  word  of  ancient  Teutonic  root,  mean- 
ing not  restrained  by  formal  rule.  It  has  had 
two  meanings  simultaneously :  courtesy  and  lib- 
erty.   Chaucer  says  of  the  Knight: 

"  He  loved  chivalrie, 
Trouth  and  \\oxvo\\x,  frccdovd  and  curte'sie." 

Here,  in  an  example  of  bilingualism,  freedom 
is  employed  in  the  sense  of  gentlemanly  manners 
resulting  from  a  sense  of  not  being  constrained, 
and  therefore  natural  and  genial.  Shakspeare 
also  v/rites  :  * 

"I  thank  thee,  Hector: 
Thou  art  too  gentle,  and  loo /rtv  a  man." 

The  meaning  is  evidently  lordly,  noble,  gentle. 
This  meaning  is  retained  in  the  poetic  phrase 
"  fair  and  free,"  and  in  the  common  expression 
"  free  and  easy,"'  in  which  last  case  it  is  somewhat 
degenerated. 

Barbour,  a  Scottish  contemporary  of  Chaucer, 

writes : 

''Freedom  is  a  noble  thing; 
Freedom  makes  man  to  have  liking," 

and  contrasts  freedom  and  thirldom,  or  thraldom. 
Here  we  have  the  meaning  of  civil  liberty  as  op- 
posed to  slavery,  in  which  sense  the  word  is  used 
to-day.  Why  do  we  call  a  tale,  in  inventing  which 
the  imagination  is  allowed  free  play,  a  Romance, 
after  the  most  practical-minded  race  of  history. 


l6o  ENGLISH    WORDS. 

instead  of  after  the  Greeks  or  the  Arabs,  people 
of  far  more  poetic  power?  The  reason  is  that 
Romans,  or  the  Roman  language,  meant  very 
early  the  popular  tongue  of  France,  as  distinguish- 
ed from  the  Latin  of  books.  In  this  popular 
tongue  tales  were  written,  so  that  a  roinaimt  be- 
came the  name  for  a  certain  style  of  poem  or  tale, 
as  the  ^'■Romance  of  Richard  Cctur  de  Lion," 
and  the  ^^  Romaunt  of  the  Rose."  The  extrava- 
gance of  these  tales  /;/  Romance  was  so  marked 
that  the  term  was  extended  in  time  to  cover  any 
unbridled  exercise  of  the  imagination. 

The  connection  between  candidaic  and  candid, 
or  white,  is  not  at  once  evident.  It  arose  from  the 
Roman  fashion  which  dictated  that  those  who 
presented  themselves  for  election  shovdd  signify 
their  readiness  by  wearing  white  gowns.  Auibi- 
tion  is  derived  from  the  practice  of  going  about 
iambire)  to  solicit  votes.  Antic  is  derived  from 
ancient,  or  more  properly  from  antique,  ancient 
being  of  course  the  Romance  form  of  the  Latin 
antiquus.  Anything  old-fashioned  is  odd.  Any- 
thing odd  is  meaningless.  Then,  by  one  of  the 
inexplicable  whims  of  word -appropriation  a>itic 
was  restricted  to  meaningless  capers. 

The  humanities  as  applied  to  study  now  means 
the  liberal  branches.  Originally  it  was  used  in 
distinction  to  theology,  the  one  being  regarded 
as  human  wisdom,  the  other  as  divine. 


ODD    AND    DISGUISED    DERIVATIONS.  l6l 

Trivial  is  supposed  to  be  derived  from  trcs 
7'ias,  where  three  roads  cross,  therefore  common, 
that  which  may  be  picked  up  anywhere;  as  we 
say  of  a  sharp  fellow  who  has  not  much  depth, 
''he  has  been  educated  on  the  streets."  Vet 
schools  which  taught  grammar,  arithmetic,  and 
geometry  were  called  trivial  schools,  or  three- 
branch  schools. 

Insult  originally  meant  to  jump  on  a  man  (/>/- 
siilto),  having  previously  knocked  him  down, "  add- 
ing insult  to  injury ;"  but  affront  is  to  defy  him 
to  his  face  (ad  front  a  re).  "  Proud  Cumberland 
prances  insulting  the  slain,"  is  etymologically  cor- 
rect. We  are  very  apt  to  confound  this  word  with 
insolent  {in  solcns),  which  means  out  of  the  com- 
mon, and  applies  to  indecorous  conduct  from  one 
inferior  in  age  or  station. 

Surround  is  a  word  having  a  strange  history. 
It  is  sur  (su/ra)  and  unrla,  a  wave,  and  meant  to 
cover  with  water :  "  As  streams  if  stopt,  sur- 
rownd,''  in  Warner's  Albion  s  England  {circ.  1600). 
The  word  is  not  found  in  Shakspeare  at  all,  for 
he  uses  round  in  the  sense  of  encompass :  "  Our 
little  life  is  rounded  with  a  sleep."  Nor  does  it 
appear  in  the  Bible  or  Prayer-book.  It  was  con- 
fused with  round  m  the  seventeenth  century,  and 
stole  its  meaning  entirely,  except  in  the  usage  of 
herdsmen,  and  now  means  to  encompass,  not  to 
inundate.    This  word  bases  itself  entirelv  on  false 


l62  ENGLISH    WORDS. 

pretences,  but  is  firmly  established  in  good  stand- 
ing. 

Tarpaulin  might  more  properly  be  noticed  un- 
der hybrid  words,  for  tar  is  a  good  old  English 
word,  and  paiuling  is  from  the  Latin  pallitinu  a 
cloak  or  mantle,  which  gives  also  the  word  pall, 
a  covering  for  the  dead. 

Nice,  originally  ncsciiis  (no  science),  ignorant,  or 
unskilful,  has  passed  through  a  variety  of  mean- 
ings, from  ignorant  to  discriminating  or  exact, 
which  is  the  proper  use  now,  as  "  a  nice  observa- 
tion," "  a  nice  distinction,''  etc.  Nice,  in  the  sense 
of  fitting,  agreeable,  is  colloquial,  and  evidently 
derived  from  the  idea  of  exactness.  The  con- 
nection between  exactness  and  ignorance  is  not 
so  evident,  and  the  transference  of  meaning  may 
probably  have  been  influenced  by  the  old  English 
word  nesJi,  which  meant  '•  delicate  "  as  well  as  soft. 
Mr.  Earle  gives  the  following  account  of  the  grad- 
ual change  of  meaning  :  '"  The  word  dates  from  the 
great  French  period,  and  at  first  meant  'foolish, 
absurd,  ridiculous  ;'  then  in  course  of  time  it  came 
to  signify  'whimsical,  fantastic,  wanton,  adroit;' 
thence  it  slid  into  the  meaning  of  subtle,  delicate, 
sensitive,  which  landed  it  on  the  threshold  of  its 
modern  meaning."  Its  use  in  social  slang  is  too 
unscientific  to  be  traceable.  Indeed,  the  change 
of  meaning  is  abnormal,  at  best. 

Quaint    is    another    word    which    has    passed 


ODD   AND   DISGUISED    DERIVATIONS.  1 63 

through  various  vicissitudes  of  meaning.  It  is 
derived  from  the  Latin  cognitns,  known,  and  in 
point  of  derivation  is  the  same  word  as  noble.  It 
now  means  old-fashioned  with  a  slight  implica- 
tion of  simplicity  and  dignity.  Professor  Earle 
says  :  "  \\'e  may  almost  say  that  the  word  quaint 
now  signifies  'after  the  fashion  of  the  seventeenth 
century.'  It  means  something  that  is  pretty  after 
some  by-gone  standard  of  prettiness."  In  the  four- 
teenth century  it  was  a  "great  social  word,  describ- 
ing an  indefinite  sort  of  merit  and  approbation." 
Chaucer  calls  the  spear  of  Achilles  a  "  quaint 
spear,"  for  it  could  both  hurt  and  heal.  Shak- 
speare  makes  Prospero  say  "  My  quaint  Ariel," 
and  in  "  Much  Ado  About  Nothing  "  speaks  of  a 
''fine,  quaint,  graceful,  and  excellent  fashion." 

Policy  ViS  applied  to  a  written  instrument,  an  in- 
surance policy,  is  a  word  of  ancient  lineage  and 
quite  distinct  from  policy,  line  of  public  conduct, 
which  is  from  ttoAic,  a  city.  The  first  comes  from 
TToXvr,  much,  and  -rv'i^  a  fold,  and  means  a  long 
register  in  many  leaves.  Why  the  meaning 
should  be  limited  as  it  is,  is  not  known. 

A^'crage  is  a  modern  word  in  its  present  sense. 
It  was  used  as  meaning  a  common  ratio  to  a 
number  of  different  quantities  by  Adam  Smith, 
the  economist  (circ.  1820).  Now  we  use  it  to  sig- 
nify a  number  such  that  the  sum  of  the  plus  dif- 
ferences between  it  and  a  cfiven  set  of  numbers 


164  ENGLISH    WORDS. 

is  equal  to  the  sum  of  the  minus  differences. 
This,  though  mathematically  distinct  from  the 
first  meaning,  is  popularly  the  same  thing.  In 
feudal  times  the  word  meant  a  contribution  tow- 
ards carrying  the  lord's  vrheat ;  then  it  came  to 
mean  a  freight  charge,  and  lastly,  a  contribution 
towards  the  loss  of  goods  which  were  sacrificed 
to  save  the  rest  of  the  ship's  freight.  This  con- 
tribution was  proportioned  or  ai'craged  according 
to  the  value  of  each  shipper's  goods.  From  this 
to  the  sense  of  a  mean — the  modern  sense — the 
transition  is  easy.  Each  step  of  the  change  of 
meaning  is  logical,  though  the  entire  change  pre- 
sents a  seemingly  irreconcilable  divergence. 

Belfry  has  nothing  to  do  with  bell,  but  v>as 
originally  ■.hcj-cfrit,  or  watch-tower,  and  was  ap- 
plied to  the  movable  tower  on  wheels  used  in 
the  Middle  Ages  to  attack  a  walled  town.  It 
now  means  a  tower  for  bells.  The  change  of 
meaning  is  due  to  the  sound  of  the  first  syllable. 

Dirge,  a  funeral  chant,  comes  from  dirige, 
guide.  In  the  Latin  service  for  the  dead,  one 
part  began.  ''  Dirige  doniirrritam  mcamr  Dirigc 
was  contracted  into  dirge,  and  extended  into  a 
general  word  for  any  musical  expression  of  grief. 

Postujuoiis,  meaning  last,  was  first  applied  to  a 
child  born  after  the  father's  death,  though  it 
meant  simply  the  last  born.  Then  an  //  was 
thrust  into  the  w\ord,  as  if  it  meant  after  burial 


ODD   A\D    DISGUISED   DERIVATIONS.  1 65 

in  the  ground.  Finally,  the  meaning  was  re- 
stricted to  a  child  born  after  the  father's  death, 
or  to  a  work  published  after  the  author's  death. 

Spend,  splay,  and  sport  are  an  odd  group  of 
words.  They  are  all  Latin,  yet  have  a  decided 
appearance  of  belonging  to  old  English  stock. 
Spend  is  dispendere,  to  weigh  out ;  splay  is  dis- 
plicere,  to  unfold ;  sport  is  disportere,  to  carry 
hither  and  thither.  In  all  cases  the  first  letters 
of  '■  dis  "  have  dropped  out  of  sight,  and  the  s. 
in  accordance  with  a  phonetic  law,  has  sur- 
vived. Sport  and  spend  have  superseded  the 
old  forms,  but  splay  has  secured  a  standing  in 
splay-footed  only,  display  stubbornly  holding  its 
place. 

Alhnu  is  a  verb  with  a  double  root,  or,  rather, 
there  were  originally  two  verbs,  allotu  from  allau- 
dare,  to  praise,  and  alLno  from  alloeare,  to  place, 
to  expend — hence,  an  allowance,  or  money  given. 
The  first  meaning  can  be  found  in  the  Bible  and 
in  Shakspeare :  "Ye  alhnu  the  deeds  of  your 
fathers."' — Luke  xi.,  48.  The  use  of  allow  in  the 
sense  of  praise  is  obsolete,  yet  as  there  is  a  con- 
nection between  approval  and  permission,  the 
first  meaning  has  colored  the  modern  usage. 

Amazement,  as  confusion  of  mind  from  what- 
ever cause,  and  not,  as  now,  simply  astonish- 
ment; depart,  in  the  sense  of  separate  ("till  death 
us   depart,''   corrupted    in    the    marriage    service 


1 66  ENGLISH   WORDS, 

into  "do  part"),  and  many  other  old  usages  can 
be  found  in  the  Prayer-book. 

Ampersand,  the  arbitrary  character  for  the 
word  and,  has  an  odd  origin.  In  repeating  the 
alphabet,  children  were  taught  to  close  by  say- 
ing, "  X,  Y,  Z,  and,/6r  sc,  and  " — that  is,  "  and  by 
itself."  This,  shortened  into  ampersand,  became 
the  name  of  the  character.  The  character  itself 
grew  out  of  the  Latin  ef,  which  the  scribes  wrote 
in  an  ornamental  fashion,  curling  backward  the 
tail  of  the  /  in  a  flourish. 

As  Dean  Trench  points  out,  a  potent  cause  of 
change  of  meaning  in  words  is  euphemism,  or 
a  desire  to  avoid  the  direct  name  of  something 
disagreeable  or  obnoxious,  by  substituting  some 
term  with  pleasanter  associations.  Adventurer 
meant  originally  a  bold  man  with  a  "  heart  for 
any  fate  "  which  might  eonie  to  him  or  to  which 
he  might  eome.  lie  took  the  chances  in  a  legiti- 
mate mercantile  risk.  Ikit  the  word  was  ap- 
plied to  the  half-merchants,  half- pirates  of  the 
seventeenth  centur}',  instead  of  naming  them 
honestly  after  their  profession.  Since  then  ad- 
venturer has  come  to  mean  one  who  preys  on 
society  in  a  pretentious  and  dashing  manner. 
Singularly  enough,  adventurous  retains  the  prim- 
itive meaning  of  fearlessness  based  on  self-re- 
liance— readiness  to  meet  danger  half-way. 

In  much  the  same  way  a  gainhler  meant  origi- 


ODD   AND   DISGUISED   DERIVATIONS.  1 67 

nally  a  person  who  plays  a  game,  but  now  is  re- 
stricted to  one  who  plays  unfairly  for  money. 
We  are  continually  inventing  euphemisms  for 
drunk,  like  intoxicated,  overcome,  and  a  multi- 
tude of  other  expressions,  most  of  which  carry 
the  idea  that  the  condition  was  an  accident,  and 
not  the  result  of  weakness  of  the  will.  Nor  do 
we  hesitate  to  palliate  breaches  of  the  sexual  ob- 
ligation by  some  word  or  paraphrase  which  im- 
plies an  excuse. 

Again,  party-spirit,  the  desire  to  cast  contempt 
or  opprobrium  upon  opponents,  operates  to 
change  the  force  of  words.  Whig  and  Tory 
were  originally  nicknames.  Quaker,  Puritan, 
Malignant,  Methodist,  Roundliead,  were  names 
given  by  opponents.  Prime- jninister,  or  Pre- 
mier, was  a  title  sarcastically  given  to  Walpole. 
These,  however,  have  all  remained  names,  and 
have  not,  with  the  possible  exception  of  premier, 
which  designates  the  functions  of  a  member  of 
the  English  Ministry,  become  real  words. 

Pigeon  English  is  said  to  be  "  business  English" 
— that  is,  a  jargon  invented  for  the  purposes  of 
trade  with  savages. 

Business,  Skeat  gives  as  from  the  English  ad- 
jective busy,  but  Earle  thought  that  there  was 
no  connection  between  them,  and  that  business 
was  from  the  French  word  besogne,  as  seen  in  the 
modern  French-,  Faites  voire  besogne  (''  do  your 


1 68  ENGLISH    WORDS. 

duty").  As  this  is  so  much  less  simple  than  the 
other,  it  is  not  to  be  preferred  without  good  evi- 
dence from  ancient  usage,  which  has  not  been 
found. 

Canter^  the  slow  gallop  of  a  horse,  is  derived 
from  Canterbury.  The  connection  is.  that  the 
pilgrims  to  Canterbury  were  accustomed  to  make 
their  horses  take  that  gait.  This  is  a  very  odd 
derivation,  but  that  it  is  the  true  one  is  evident 
from  early  use.  One  of  the  latest  examples  is 
from  Dr.  Johnson  :  "  The  Pegasus  of  Pope,  like 
a  Kentish  post-horse,  is  ahvays  on  the  Caiitcrhury."' 

Calipers^  the  instrument  for  measuring  the 
diameter  of  a  cylinder,  was  first  '■'caliper  com- 
passes.'' Caliper  is  the  same  as  caliber^  which  is 
from  a  French  word,  gualibre,  meaning  quality  or 
rank.     Of  this  last  the  derivation  is  uncertain. 

'Phe  forces  which  affect  the  significance  of 
words,  and  color  the  exact  shade  of  meaning  they 
convey,  are  numberless.  They  co\"er  all  human 
mental  activity.  Some  words  become  more  dig- 
nified, their  meanings  grov/  fuller  and  more  ele- 
vated ,  others  sink  and  become  degraded  by  asso- 
ciation till  they  lose  standing  entirely,  raramour, 
ringleader,  traJueer,  diinee,  equivocate,  imp,  gloze, 
silly,  simple,  prude,  and  many  others,  had  once 
nothing  derogatory  in  their  signification.  Sacra- 
ment, Cliristiau,  eueliarist,  humility,  martyrs,  regen- 
eration,  have  been  elevated  by  Christianity.     In 


ODD   AND    DISGUISED    DERIVATIONS.  1 69 

fact,  words  record  all  the  great  movements  of 
thought,  the  changes  in  character  that  distin- 
guish different  ages  of  the  world.  Sometimes 
language  is  affected  and  precise,  sometimes  free 
and  strong.  The  causes  of  growth  or  loss  of 
meaning  are  too  broad  and  general  to  be  classi- 
fied. In  fact,  every  word  is  a  text  for  a  chapter, 
if  its  various  senses  be  collated  and  the  reasons 
for  the  changes  sought.  An  abstract  word  is  but 
a  form  for  an  idea,  and  concrete  words  are  not 
much  more.  As  thought  is  in  a  perpetual  flux, 
so  must  the  forms  of  thought  be  also.  The  fol- 
lowing are  suggested  as  illustrations  :  Knave,  vil- 
lain, boor,  varlet,  valet,  menial,  minion,  pcda?it, 
swifidler,  timeserver,  conceit,  carp,  officious,  demure, 
crafty,  artful,  tinsel,  specious,  voluble,J>lausihle,  lewd, 
atiimosity,  prejudice,  askance,  fulsome,  gaudy,  gush, 
hypocrite,  monster,  sad,  zealot,  brave,  prude. 

Two  instructive  modern  'nooks  on  the  grosvtli  of  the 
English  language  are  Modern  English,  by  Fitzedward 
Mall,  and  Standard  English,  by  F.  L.  Kington  Oliphant. 


CHAPTER  XIV. 

GEOGRAPHICAL    NAMES. 

Local  names  of  the  great  features  of  the  earth 
— seas,  rivers,  lakes,  mountains,  and  islands — are 
not  arbitrary  sounds',  they  were  originally  given 
with  a  purpose,  and  are  frequently  of  great  an- 
tiquity. Local  names  of  civil  divisions  — coun- 
ties, towns,  hamlets,  even  fields — often  embody  a 
great  deal  of  history.  These  names,  too,  gather 
associations,  and  their  interest  depends  greatly 
on  these  associations.  A  knowledge  of  the  deri- 
vations frequently  widens  very  greatly  these  asso- 
ciations or  connected  ideas,  for  the  liistory  of  the 
successive  races  that  have  occupied  the  land  is 
impressed  on  the  names  of  their  old  homes.  Our 
country  is  unfortunate  in  this  respect.  We  have, 
it  is  true,  preserved  many — too  few — of  the  Indian 
names  of  lakes,  rivers,  and  mountains ;  but  the 
American  aborigines  are  not,  like  the  Celts  and  the 
Teutons,  ancestors  of  modern  civilization.  Sen- 
eca, Cayuga,  Niagara,  Ontario,  are  fine  words,  and 
it  is  well  that  they  have  not  been  lost.     It  was  a 


GEOGRAPHICAL    NAMES.  171 

sad  confession  of  intellectual  poverty  to  name  the 
townships  of  Western  New  York  after  the  cities 
or  heroes  of  classical  antiquity — Marcellus,  Rome, 
Pompey,  Syracuse,  etc.,  and  it  will  be  many  years 
before  the  incongruity  ceases  to  be  full  of  absurd 
suggestions.  Nor  are  the  names  of  the  Presiden- 
tial range— Mount  Washington,  Jefferson,  etc. — 
to  be  commended.  Even  the  cacophonous  Indian 
names  of  Maine  are  better  than  these,  because 
they  are  not  artificial.  A  more  modern  instance 
of  the  same  bad  taste  is  the  attaching  the  names  of 
the  Queen  of  England  and  her  husband  and  son 
to  the  great  lakes  of  Africa.  A  civil  geographical 
division  may  take  the  name  of  its  founder,  and 
there  is  reason  in  giving  the  name  of  the  discov- 
erer even  to  some  great  natural  feature  of  the 
earth.  No  one  would  wish  to  change  the  name  of 
Hudson's  or  of  Baffni's  Bay,  because  these  words 
are  the  records  of  perseverance  and  courage.  The 
value  of  the  associations  in  a  name  which  con- 
nects the  present  with  the  past  is  greater  than  is 
supposed.  It  is  a  continual  suggestion  of  poetry. 
Otherwise  we  might  as  well  adopt  numbers  at 
once,  which,  indeed,  as  in  the  streets  of  new  cities, 
is  a  convenient  method  of  ticketing  localities 
which  have  no  history  and  no  individuality  and 
no  distinction. 

Nevertheless,  many  local  names  in  our  country, 
though  not  relating  to  a  distant  past,  have  con- 


172  ENGLISH    WORDS. 

siderable  historical  interest.  The  rule  that  names 
of  rivers  are  permanent  is  exemphfied  by  the  fact 
that  all  of  our  important  rivers  have  retained  their 
Indian  names,  except  the  St.  Lawrence  and  the 
Hudson.  The  gulf  into  which  the  former  of  the 
two  rivers  flows,  was  discovered  on  the  day  sacred 
to  St.  Lawrence,  and  the  gulf  narrows  by  degrees 
into  the  river.  In  the  same  way  the  Hudson  has 
in  its  lower  course  the  character  of  an  arm  of  the 
sea,  and  lacks  the  life  and  individuality  of  a  river.* 
The  civil  names  on  the  map  of  North  America 
testify  to  the  original  colonization  by  English, 
French,  and  Spaniards ;  and  the  lines  which  mark- 
ed the  territory  originally  occupied  by  each  can 
be  approximately  determined  by  the  character  of 
the  old  names.  Thus,  France  held  possession  of 
the  valley  of  the  Mississippi;  and  Louisiana,  Xew 
Orleans,  St.  Louis,  St.  Charles,  Detroit  — the  nar- 
row strait — still  witness  to  the  French  occupation. 
The  names  of  the  Jesuit  missionaries,  Pere  Mar- 
quette, AUouez,  and  Joliet,  give  a  slight  llavor 
of  the  seventeentli  century  to  towns  which  have 
grown  up  in  the  country  where  their  missions  were 
established.      Lake    Champlain   takes    its   name 

*  In  South  America  the  Sjianiard-S  cli>regarded  the  real 
names  of  tlie  rivers  in  many  cases,  as  La  Plata,  Amazon, 
San  Francisco,  Madeira,  etc.  The  Ama/on  was  discovered 
by  Orellana,  who  said  that  a  race  of  female  warriors  existed 
on  its  banks.      The  name  is  therefore  a  double  fraud. 


GEOGRAPHICAL    NAMES.  1 73 

from  the  bold  Norman  adventurer  who,  "delight- 
ing marvellously  in  such  enterprises,"  joined  an 
Indian  war -party  and  explored  the  upper  waters 
of  the  St.  Lawrence.  The  name  of  the  State  of 
Vermont  shows  that  it  came  within  the  French 
dominion.  Fort  Da  Quesne,  the  key  to  the  Valley 
of  the  Ohio,  became  Pittsburg,  in  honor  of  the 
great  war-minister  under  whom  the  empire  of  the 
New  World  was  wrested  from  France. 

When  one  race  settles  in  a  country  occupied  by 
a  foreign  population,  it  frequently  modifies  in  imi- 
tation of  the  words  of  its  own  speech  the  local 
names  of  the  country.  Thus  in  Newfoundland  — 
now  belonging  to  the  English,  but  a  country  where 
the  French  had  fishing  settlements — many  of  the 
bays  and  capes  bear  the  old  French  names,  ludi- 
crously corrupted  into  vulgar  English.  For  in- 
stance. RjHcoiifrc  is  changed  into  Round  Counter ; 
Baic dc  Lihrc  is  Bay  Djlircr,  and  Bai:  dcs  Espoirs 
has  become  the  Bay  of  Despair.  In  Michigan, 
too,  the  island  Bois  Blanc  is  written  Boldo,  L Isle 
Aigailee  is  the  original  of  the  well-known  light- 
liouse  Skii'agal:e,  and  the  Sault  Ste.  Marie  is  ha- 
bitually spoken  of  and  even  written  as  the  Soo. 
The  name  Purgatoire  is  corrupted  into  Picketwire 
Ri\-er,  and  Prairie  des  Perdrix  is  said  to  be  the 
original  of  Dipper  tree  Prairie. 

The  Spanish  names  on  the  Pacific  Coast  are 
usuallv  taken  from  the  names  of   saints.     Here 


174  ENGLISH    WORDS. 

the  Spanish  names  again  contradict  the  rule  that 
the  "  rivers  and  mountains  receive  their  names 
from  the  earliest  races,  villages  and  towns  from 
later  colonists."  They  called  the  rivers  Colorado 
or  Sacramento  or  Del  Norte  vv'ith  a  haughty  in- 
difference to  their  real  names.  As  the  occupa- 
tion of  the  United  States  took  place  after  the 
general  diffusion  of  printing,  the  spelling  of  the 
Spanish  names  remains  unchanged,  though  the 
pronunciation  is  of t^n  ludicrously  corrupted:  and 
it  remains  a  disputed  point — which  will  soon  set- 
tle itself — whether  or  not  (and,  if  at  all,  how  far) 
to  anglicize  the  Spanish  pronunciation.  Thus 
Sanfa  Fe  and  San  Diego  are  pronounced  as  they 
are  written  and  with  the  a  as  in  Samuel.  Sierra 
and  Nevada  retain  the  Spanish  vowel-sound. 
However  pronounced,  these  names  are  memorials, 
in  the  early  history  of  the  extreme  West,  of  the 
attempt  of  a  moribund  civilization  to  rejuvenate 
itself,  and  are  in  every  respect  superior  to  those 
of  modern  manufacture,  which  embody  either  a 
lamentable  attempt  at  poetry  or  some  common- 
place reminiscence  of  early  mining  camps.  About 
the  Spanish  names  lingers  a  romance  and  a  flavor 
of  the  past,  in  a  country  where  romance  and  a 
past  are  sadly  needed. 

In  our  country  some  names  have  been  manu- 
factured. Pomfret  is  derived  from  Fojitefract.  A 
very  odd  name  of  a  village  in  one  of  our  Western 


GEOGRAPHICAL    NAMES.  I  75 

States  is  Yreka,  which  the  future  etymologist  will 
no  doubt  explain  as  a  corruption  of  Eureka.  In 
reality,  it  was  suggested  by  the  sign  of  a  bakery, 
which,  printed  in  large  letters  on  a  window-curtain, 
was  legible  from  the  inside,  but  from  the  outsidj 
appeared  reversed,  with  the  initial  "  13  "  concealed 
behind  the  right-hand  casing.  This  must  rank  as 
the  most  singular  origin  of  a  geographical  name 
on  record.  Our  Connecticut  ancestors  made  up 
some  town  names  by  an  entirely  original  method. 
When  wild  land  that  lay  between  two  towns,  or 
was  claimed  as  common  land  by  two  or  more  of 
the  old  towns,  was  set  off  as  the  abode  of  a  new 
community,  the  name  was  made  by  amalgamating 
syllables  from  the  names  of  the  old  towns.  Thus 
Harivintoii  is  //<i';-tford- fF/z/dsor  town;  Winton- 
hury  is  JF//'/dsor-Farming/'6';/-Sims/'//rj',-  Stratfield, 
the  old  name  of  Bridgeport,  is  Stratioxdi-Y'^xxfield ; 
Stamz'i'ich  is  StamioxiS.-QxitQ.x\wich  ;  and  Hadlyme 
is  Had\Q.y-Ly)nc.  There  is  a  self-conscious  in- 
genuity about  this  method  which  forbids  our  rec- 
ognizing it  as  a  genuine  folk- name  formative 
process. 

The  names  in  the  English  settlements  embody 
certain  facts  of  early  history.  Passing  over  the 
Indian  names  which  have  survived,  we  note  that 
the  local  names  in  New  England,  New  York,  and 
Virginia  are  colored  by  the  characteristics  of  the 
settlers.  Plymouth,  Boston,  Worcester,  Cambridge, 


176  ENGLISH   WORDS. 

Hartford,  remind. us  of  the  parts  of  England  from 
which  the  Puritans  emigrated,  and  Salem  was  in- 
tended to  be  an  "earthly  realization  of  the  Xew 
Jerusalem"  which  Calvinism  was  to  inaugurate. 
\Yg  find  very  few  references  to  the  aristocratic 
forms  of  the  country  which  they  left.  That  Yiv- 
ginia — named  from  Queen  Elizabeth,  the  Virgin 
Queen — was  settled  by  loyal  subjects  of  the  King 
of  England,  is  evident  as  we  enter  Chesapeake 
Bay.  The  river  near  the  mouth  is  the  James,  so 
called  in  honor  of  the  sovereign,  and  on  either 
side  are  Capes  Henry  and  Charles,  bearing  the 
names  of  his  two  sons,  the  hopeful  prince  whose 
succession  to  the  throne  might  have  changed  the 
entire  course  of  English  history,  and  his  unfortu- 
nate brother  who  became  Charles  I.  Elizabeth 
County  is  named  from  their  sister,  the  mother  of 
Prince  Rupert.  The  State  of  Delaware  v^-as  found- 
ed in  1610  by  Lord  De  la  Warr,  and  ^Maryland 
commemorates  Henrietta  Maria,  the  Queen  of 
Charles  I.  Baltimore  is  the  Celtic  name  of  a  vil- 
lager in  Ireland,  from  which  Lord  Baltimore  de- 
rived his  title.  Tlie  city  of  Charleston,  Albemarle 
Sound,  the  rivers  Ashley  and  Cooper,  and  the 
States  of  Xorlh  and  South  Carolina  refer  plainly 
in  their  names  to  the  Restoration  and  the  worth- 
less Charles  II.  Annapolis  is  named  from  Queen 
Anne ;  Georgia,  the  youngest  of  the  original  thir- 
teen States,  from  George  II.;  Fredricksburg  from 


GEOGRAPHICAL    NAMES.  I  77 

his  son.  These  names  indicate  the  original  po- 
litical character  of  the  settlements  and  the  con- 
trast between  them  and  New  England.  New 
York  dates  from  the  reign  of  Charles  II.,  as  it 
was  granted  to  his  brother,  Duke  of  York  and 
Albany.  Its  chief  cities,  New  Amsterdam  and 
Fort  Orange,  were  rechristened,  after  the  Dutch 
were  dispossessed,  New  York  and  Albany.  Some 
Dutch  names  survived — the  Katskill  Mountains, 
Fishkill,  Staten  Island,  Brooklyn,  Haarlem,  Wa- 
tervliet,  Haverstraw,  and  others,  to  testify  to  its 
original  colonization,  but  they  are  surrounded  by 
English  names.  New  Rochelle  was  settled  by 
Huguenot  refugees  and  named  after  their  French 
home. 

The  history  which  is  exemplified  in  the  local 
nomenclature  of  our  continent  is  comparatively 
recent.  But  the  names  of  rivers,  States,  mount- 
ains, and  cities  in  Europe  belong  in  many  in- 
stances to  a  remote  past.  The  migrations  of  pre- 
historic races — Phoenicians,  Celts,  and  Iberians — 
can  be  dimly  traced  on  the  modern  map  by  names, 
which  are  the  distorted  survivals  of  those  given 
two  or  three  thousand  years  ago.  The  study  of 
these  linguistic  relics  has  proved  a  valuable  ad- 
junct to  ethnology,  as  the  crushed  and  deformed 
relics  of  animal  life  have  to  paleontology.  Nine- 
tenths  of  the  geographical  names  of  England  are 
fossil-words  containins;  some  record  of  the  life  of 


178  ENGLISH    WORDS. 

forgotten  tribes.  This  is  a  feature  of  interest 
wliicli  a  new  country  like  America  can  never 
possess.  To  give  a  few  instances,  tlie  names  of 
tribes  are  preserved,  as  of  tlie  Parisii  in  Paris. 
of  the  Uammonii  in  Devon,  of  the  Boii  in  ]johe- 
mia;  of  ancient  families,  like  that  of  the  yEscings, 
the  royal  family  of  Kent,  in  Agincourt,  France, 
and  in  Essington,  Staffordshire  ;  of  individuals,  as 
Marlborough,  Merlin's  barrow,  or  hill,  in  Hamp- 
shire ;  and  of  battles,  boundaries,  dwellings,  tem- 
ples, sacred  places,  camps,  in  profusion,  ^^'e 
will  confine  ourselves  to  the  consideration  of  a 
few  points  referring  to  some  of  the  fuller  treat- 
ises on  this  interesting  branch  of  the  study  of 
words.* 

Nations  or  tribes  very  frequently  have  two 
names,  one  by  which  they  call  themselves,  and 
another  by  v.'hich  they  are  known  to  foreign  na- 
tions. The  regular  ethnic  name  frequently  signi- 
fies the  ''■  speakers,"  or  the  "  people,"  and  the 
name  given  by  other  nations  frequently  means  the 
foreigners,  or  the  jabberers.  Thus  the  people  of 
England  call  themselves  the  English,  while  the 
Celtic  peoples  —  the  Welsh,  the  Manxmen,  the 
Gaels  of  Scotland — call  them  Sacso//,  Sao:.  Sas/oi- 
7ialch,  or  Sagsonach.     The  natives  of  Wales  call 


*  Much  of  this  chapter  is  taken  froai  Taylor's  Names  and 
Places. 


GEOGRAPHICAL    NAMES.  I  79 

themselves  Cymry ;  we  call  them  Welshvicn.  The 
root  of  this  v.-ord  Wcls/i  appears  in  a  large  number 
of  ethnic  names.  All  nations  of  Teutonic  blood 
have  called  the  bordering  tribes  by  the  name 
of  7tvA-//t7-j-— that  is,  foreigners.  Waclschland  is 
the  old  German  name  of  Italy.  The  Bernese 
Oberlander  calls  the  French-speaking  district  to 
the  south  of  him  by  the  name  of  Canton- /F^z/Z/j'. 
Wallensta.U  and  IVal/aisee,  the  foreign  city  and 
the  foreign  lake,  are  on  the  frontier  of  the  Ro- 
mansch  district.  The  Germans  called  the  Bul- 
garians JVallac/ii,  and  their  country  WallacJiia.  and 
the  Celts  of  Flanders  were  called  Walloons  by 
their  Teutonic  neighbors. 

The  roots  gal  and  wal  have  frequently  been 
confounded,  and  it  is  in  some  cases,  no  doubt,  im- 
possible to  distinguish  them.  The  Teutonic  w 
and  the  Celtic  and  Romance  g  are  convertible 
letters.  The  French  Gitalticr  and  Gnillaumc  are 
the  English  Walter  and  Wiliiam.  So  guerre  and 
li^ar,  gard  and  li'ar.l,  guise  and  7uise,  guile  and  ivile, 
guarantee  and  icarraiify,  are  the  same  words.  Ca- 
lais was  Galeys  or  JJ'a/eys,  and  the  name  no  doubt 
indicates,  whatever  the  root  the  existence  of  a 
Celtic  remnant  surrounded  by  Teutonic  settlers. 
The  French  to-day  call  the  Prince  of  Wales  ''/e 
prifiee  de  Gallesr 

GaL  from  Gadhael  or  GaeL  is  probably  an  inde- 
pendent Celtic  root,  fgr  it  was  used  as  a  national 


l8o  ENGLISH    WORDS. 

appellation  by  the  Gaels  of  Gz/edonia,*  G^^zAvay, 
Donnei,'-(7/,  6^^?/lo\vay,  and  \rgyk,  the  6^^7/atians  to 
whom  St.  Paul  wrote,  and  possibly  by  the  inhabi- 
tants of  Voxiugal.  Gallia,  the  word  used  by  the 
Romans,  is  not  connected  with  Gael,  but  mav 
be  from  the  root  wal,  the  Teutonic  appellation, 
stranger.  This  instance  of  the  confusion  between 
the  Teutonic  root  tval  and  the  Celtic  root  gal 
shows  how  much  study  as  well  as  care  and  acute- 
ness  is  necessary  in  the  examination  of  derivations. 
It  is  beset  with  endless  pitfalls  for  the  unwary. 

To  return  to  the  subject  of  double  ethnic 
names.  The  Germans  call  themselves  Deiifselu\ 
a  word  meaning  the  people  ;  the  French  call  them 
Lcs  AUemaiids,  from  the  name  of  the  ancient  fron- 
tier tribe,  which  probably  means  the  other  men 
or  foreigners,  outsiders.!  The  etymology  of  the 
v/ord  German  is  doubtful ;  possibly  it  comes  from 
the  Celtic  gairmcan,  one  who  cries  or  yells  in  try- 
ing to  talk.  The  Russians  call  the  contiguous 
Ugrian  tribes  Tschudcs,  which  means  strangers. 
The  Egyptians,  and  afterwards  the  Greeks,  called 

*  This  word  is  usually  derived  from  Coildooinc,  the  men 
of  the  woods.  If  it  contains  the  rowt  Gal  it  would  mean  the 
Claels  of  the  tlunes  or  hills. 

\  Orlando,  in  "As  Vou  Like  It,"  when  asserting;  his  claim 
to  social  sviiijiathy,  says,  "\'et  am  I  /;;/(7;/(/l)red."  lie  uses 
inland,  not  a^  opposed  to  seal)  lard,  l)ut  as  opposed  t()  oiii- 
land,  just  as  we  use  (nitlandi>!i  for  grotej([ue  or  uncultured. 


GEOGRAPHICAL    NAMES.  l8l 

all  who  did  not  speak  their  own  language  bar- 
liaria/is,  which  may  be  traced  to  the  Sanskrit  root, 
7'arvara,  one  who  speaks  confusedly.  The  Greeks 
called  themselves  ethnically,  Hellenes^  but  the  Ro- 
mans carelessly  applied  to  them  the  name  of  the 
Grceci,  a  small  and  unimportant  tribe  with  whom 
they  first  came  into  contact,  who  were  probably 
not  Hellenes  at  all.  This  is  but  one  of  a  number 
of  misnomers,  just  as  we  carelessly  use  yezc,  Israel- 
ite, and  Hebrew  indifferently.  Jew  is  the  name 
from  the  point  of  view  of  their  religion,  Israelite 
is  the  national  name,  and  Ilebreiv  is  the  ethnic 
or  race  name.  But  the  distinctions  are  rarely  ob- 
served in  use,  except  by  the  most  careful  histori- 
ans. A  mediaeval  error  is  perpetuated  whenever 
we  speak  of  Gypsies,  for  the  Gypsies  did  not  come 
from  Egypt,  but  probably  from  India,  and  they 
call  themselves  the  Romany  or  else  the  Zincali — 
the  last  being  the  true  name.  Numerous  other 
instances  of  this  rule  of  double  ethnic  names 
misiht  be  gathered. 

Another  root  which  is  frequently  found  in  the 
names  of  peoples  is  ar.  This  ancient  word,  which 
is  found  in  the  vocabulary  of  all  Indo-Germanic 
peoples,  seems  to  have  referred  primarily  to  the 
occupation  of  agriculture. 

Thus,  in  Greek,  ri^jow means  to  plough. 

"      "  Latin,  aro "  " 


132  ENGLISH    WORDS. 

Thus,  in  Gothic,  arjan means  to  plough. 

"      "  Polish,  ^r^^ " 

"      "  old  High  German,  ^/vr;/  "  " 

"      "  Irish,  araim "  " 

"      '•'  old  English,  ear "  " 

"      "  Norse,  ard '"     a  plough. 

"      "  English,  aroma   means   odor  of  freshly- 
ploughed  land. 
"      "  English,  harro7o  means  to  pulverize  the 

surface. 
"  "  Sanskrit,  arya  means  a  landholder,  hence 
a  member  of  the  dominant  race,  a  man 
as  opposed  to  a  slave.  King  Darius, 
a  Persian,  proudly  claimed  to  be  an 
"Arya  of  the  Aryans."' 

The  name  of  this  Aryan  race  is  to  be  found  in 
the  names  Iran,  Herat,  Aral,  Armenia,  and  possi- 
bly in  Iberia  and  Eriji.  In  languages  of  the  Teu- 
tonic branch  we  find  this  root  in  the  form  7C'are, 
inhabitants.  Burhvarc,  or  burghers,  are  citizens 
of  a  burgh;  skipveri,  or  shippers,  are  sailors.  It 
is  Latinized  into  the  forms  7'ari,  nari,  and  bari, 
as  the  In,i^!iarii,  the  Ripiiarii,  the  Cliattuarii,  the 
Ansibarii,  etc.  The  Bulgarians  were  the  men  from 
the  Bolg  or  ^'olga,  and  Boivarii  is  preserved  in 
the  word  Bavaria,  while  the  home  of  the  Boii  lias 
become  Bohemia.  \\\  England  Worcester  is  a  cor- 
ruption of  HK<it-u>ara-castcr,  the  camp  of  the  men 


GEOGRAPHICAL   NAMES.  1 83 

of  the  Huiccii.  The  men  of  Kent  were  Cant<i<are, 
and  their  chief  town  is  Cant-er-bury,  the  burgh 
of  the  men  of  Kent.  This  term  survives  in  the 
Latin  title  of  the  archbishop,  Episcopus  Cantu- 
ariensis.  Can'sbrookc,  in  the  Isle  of  Wight,  was 
originally  written  Gwiti-gara-bufg,  the  fort  of 
the  men  of  Wight.  The  first  two  syllables  were 
dropped,  and  the  burg  became  bruk,  then  brooke. 
The  names  Cant  and  Giuiti  are  still  older  Celtic 
words — that  is,  were  geographical  names  before 
the  archaic  word  ivare  (or  gara)  was  added  to 
them. 

The  syllable  set  is  frequently  found  in  the  names 
of  places.  It  means  the  seat  or  place  inhabit- 
ed by  settlers,  thus  Somer-j-t'/,  V>QX-set ;  and  Al- 
sace is  the  other  set,  or  the  settlement  west  of  the 
Rhine.  Ilolstein  is  not  the  forest  stone,  but 
the  forest  settlement,  Holtsactan.  These  few  in- 
stances may  serve  to  show  that  a  great  deal  of 
ancient  history  is  embodied  in  words.  The  sub- 
ject is  a  very  broad  one,  and  demands  great  care 
and  patience. 

The  traces  of  the  Roman  occupation  are  found 
all  over  Europe  in  camps,  roads,  and  in  the  Latin- 
ized forms  of  the  ancient  names  of  cities,  espe- 
cially of  cities  v.hich  from  their  situation  had  mil- 
itary importance  in  controlling  the  Surrounding 
districts.  The  character  of  the  Romans  as  strate- 
gists and  intrusive  administrators,  not  colonists. 


184  ENGLISH    WORDS. 

is  as  evident  from  the  character  of  the  local  names 
derived  from  their  language  which  have  been  in- 
corporated into  English,  as  from  the  remnants  of 
their  walls,  military  roads,  villas,  and  camps  which 
have  survived  through  fifteen  centuries. 

We  will  close  this  brief  reference  to  the  subject 
of  geographical  names  by  calling  attention  to  the 
fact  that  nearly  all  of  the  great  rivers  of  I^urope 
contain  a  Celtic  root  in  their  names.  When  a 
race  enters  a  new  country  it  is,  of  course,  most 
likely  to  follow  the  river  valleys,  which  afford  the 
best  land  for  settlement  and  the  most  convenient 
road  for  penetrating  the  wilderness.  Hence  a  river 
is  apt  to  have  the  same  name  for  its  entire  course. 
The  first-comers  would  naturally  call  the  stream 
by  a  generic  name,  the  river,  or  the  water,  or  per- 
haps distinguish  it  by  some  adjective,  as  the  swift, 
the  crooked,  the  sandy,  or  the  big  river.  Sup- 
posing that  it  was  called  simply  the  zuater.  When 
the  first  settlers  are  dispossessed  by  an  intrusive 
race,  the  new-comers,  not  being  familiar  with  the 
language,  would  take  the  word  water  iox  a  specific 
or  proper  name,  and  would  add  to  it  the  word 
river  in  their  own  speech.  This  amalgamation  is 
evident  in  the  names  of  many  rivers  in  England 
and  on  the  Continent. 

Almost  all  of  the  larger  rivers  of  Europe  con- 
tain one  or  more  of  the  following  Celtic  roots  for 
water  or  stream  : 


GEOGRAPHICAL    NAMES.  185 

1.  Avon  or  aon  or  men. 

2.  Dior  or  ter. 

3.  Uisge,  or  wysk,  wye,  is,  cs,  oise,  nsk,  esk,  ex,  ax. 

4.  Ehe  or  Rhin,  swift  flowing. 

5.  Don  or  Z^^?;/. 

Tims  it  seems  probable  that  tlie  name 

Danaster  or  Dniester contains  roots  5,  3,  2 

Rhadanan "            "  4,  5,  i 

Rhodanus '•            "  4,  5 

Danuhiiis "            "  5,  i 

R/ienus "            "  4,  i 

Eridanus "            "  4,  5 

Exter "            "  3,2 

We  have  the  Stratford  Avon,  the  Bristol  Avon, 
and  the  Hampshire  Avon ;  the  Ive  in  Cumber- 
land, the  Lin  in  Fife,  and  the  Tyrol,  the  Auney, 
the  Eioe)iny,  the  Wye.  the  Eveneny,  and  the  In- 
ney — all  from  the  first  root.  A  great  number  of 
the  names  of  French  rivers  end  in  on,  ome,  or  one. 

The  syllable  Dur,  Der,  Stoiir,  forms  part  of  in- 
numerable river  names,  as  the  Dcnoent,  the  Dar- 
win, the  Dart — there  are  four  river  Derwents  in 
England — and  the  Adar,  the  Adder,  and  the  Adiir. 

The  third  root  is  in  the  Esk,  in  Scotland ;  the  Iz, 
the  Isis,  and  the  Thames  or  the  Taniesis,  the  broad 
Isis.  The^.r^.'  and  the  Oicse^xxo.  also  the  same  word, 
and  the  root  appears  in  innumerable  combinations. 

The  fourth  root,  the  R/ie,  Rhin,  or  Rhine  ap- 
pears in  the  English  streams  the  Rye,  the  Ray, 
the  Rhee,  the  TF/vr,  the  Rhoe,  and  several  others. 


i86 


ENGLISH    WORDS, 


The  fifth  appears  very  generally  on  the  Conti- 
nent and  in  the  British  Isles  in  the  Don^  the  Dane, 
the  Dun,  the  Tone,  and  the  Tyne,  Teagn,  and  leyn. 

From  the  fact  that  the  Celts  named  the  rivers, 
the  inference  is  irresistible  that  they  were  the  first- 
comers,  unless  it  can  be  shown  that  some  of  these 
roots  were  common  to  the  speech  of  other  races. 
That  the  luiglish  came  later  is  evident  from  such 
words  as  Dnx-beek,  Is-boiirne,  Ash-bourne,  Wash- 
bourne,  OwsQ-burn,  where  the  Teutonic  words  beck 
and  burn,  or  brook,  have  been  added  to  the  cor- 
ruptions of  the  Celtic  word  for  stream.  In  the 
name  Wans-beck-water  we  find  the  Celtic  Wan  or 
aivn,  the  s  probably  a  remnant  of  ivysk,  the  Eng- 
lish beck,  and  the  modern  water.  Thus  we  have 
the  singular  compound  River-water-stream-water. 

From  the  names  of  villages,  fields,  hills,  woods, 
valleys,  inferences  may  be  drawn  as  to  the  dis- 
tribution of  the  races  from  whom  the  modern  in- 
habitants are  descended.  Mr.  Taylor  gives  the 
followinsf  table : 


rEKCENTA(,E 

Oi' 
N'AMES   FKOM  : 

SuiToIk. 

Surrey. 

Devon 

Corn- 
1    -•''"• 

Mnn. 

muuth. 

Isle  of 
Man. 

Ireland. 

Celtic 

2 

s 

3- 

So 

1 

7^ 

59 

So 

Anglo-Saxon. 

9') 

91 

65 

j 

1    20 

24 

20 

19 

Norse 

S 

I 

3 

i      ° 

0 

21 

I 

GEOGRAPHICAL    NAMES.  I  87 

The  derivations  of  the  family  names  of  any 
locality  would,  with  certain  modifications,  yield 
evidence  to  the  same  point. 

By  far  the  greater  part  of  the  Celtic  names  in 
England  are  Cymric,  but  a  thin  stream  of  Gad- 
haelic  names  extends  across  the  island  from  the 
Thames  to  the  Mersey,  as  if  to  indicate  the  route 
by  which  the  Gaels  crossed  and  went  to  Ireland. 
From  the  North  of  Ireland  the  Gaelic  tribe,  the 
Scoti,  crossed  into  Argyle,  and  in  their  turn  par- 
tially dispossessed  the  Cymry  of  the  Lowlands,  who 
were  probably  the  people  known  to  history  as  the 
Picts.  To  determine  the  territory  occupied  by  the 
Cymry  and  the  Gaels,  the  words  Pen  and  Bcii — 
both  meaning  mountain — are  useful  test-words  ; 
also  the  words  invcr  and  abcr,  both  meaning  the 
mouth  of  a  river,  as  Inverness  and  Aberdeen.  In 
Ireland  we  find  only  Invers,  but  in  Scotland  In- 
7'ers  and  Abcrs,  both.  Bally,  a  town,  occurs  2000 
times  in  Ireland  and  a  few  times  in  the  Gaelic 
part  of  Scotland.  If  we  draw  a  line  from  a  point 
a  little  south  of  Inverary  to  a  point  a  little  south 
of  Aberdeen,  the  Invers  lie  to  the  north-west  of 
the  line,  and  the  Abcrs  to  the  south-east  of  it, 
with  few  exceptions.  The  Celtic  names  in  the 
Isle  of  Man  are  all  Gaelic.  There  are  ninety- six 
beginning  with  Balla,  for  instance.  The  names 
of  the  places  connected  with  Christian  worship 
are  all  Norse,  indicating  that  here  the  Celts  re- 


1 88  ENGLISH    WORDS. 

mained  heathen,  though  Christianized  on  the  main- 
land long  before  the  Saxons  or  Danes.  In  the 
Channel  Islands  all  the  names  of  the  towns  and 
villages  are  derived  from  the  names  of  saints,  in- 
dicating that  before  the  introduction  of  Christian- 
ity the  islands  were  very  sparsely  populated,  or, 
at  least,  that  no  towns  were  built. 

To  determine  the  settlement  by  Saxons  or 
Danes  the  following  syllables  are  test-words  :  For 
the  Saxons,  Aw,  Iiam,  worth,  stoke,  fold,  yard,  park, 
bury,  barroK',ford ;  for  the  Northmen,  by,  tJiorpe, 
toft,  7'ille,  garth,  ford  (or  frith),  wick,  ncss,  scar, 
and  thiuaite.  Ton  means  a  place  enclosed  by  a 
hedge — a  family  settlement — and  is  the  origin  of 
our  word  town.  In  some  parts  of  England  they 
still  call  the  stack-yard  the  barton,  or  enclosure 
for  what  the  land  bears  (or  else  the  barley-yard), 
and  in  a  few  cases  isolated  farm-houses  bear  the 
name  to?i,  as  ShotlingAw,  Apple/^;//,  and  Wingle- 
ton.  The  word  yard  had  nearly  the  same  original 
signification  as  ton,  and  the  Norse  equivalent 
garth.  Tine,  a  twig — sur\-i\-ing  in  the  tyne  of  a 
pitchfork  —  bears  the  same  relation  to  ton  and 
to'wn  that  yard,  a  little  stick — surviving  in  yard- 
measure  —  does  to  yard,  an  enclosure.  Stoke 
means  a  place  enclosed  by  stakes,  and  fold, 
an  enclosure  made  by  felled  trees,  or  by  felling 
the  trees — ■^  field,  a  clearing.  Worth  is  a  place 
warded   or  guarded.      Park   also   meant  an   en- 


GEOGRAPHICAL    NAMES.  1 89 

closed  field,  and  a  hay  is    a   place    surrounded 
by  a  hedge. 

A  very  large  number  of  towns  and  villages  in 
England  and  Scotland — certainly  not  less  than 
one  thousand  —  have  the  termination  dorongh, 
bury,  barrozv,  and  burgh,  as  G3.\nsbo rough,  Edin- 
burgh,  Salis^z/rj',  and  ^c7rri?7^-in- Furness.  The 
original  meaning  of  this  terminal,  Anglo-Saxon 
burh  or  burg,  is  earthwork,  from  a  verb  meaning 
to  protect,  beorgan.  A  funeral  mound  protects  the 
body,  and  is  called  a  barrinv,\<\\(t\-\Q.Q.  the  verbs  to 
/;//;'_)•  and  to  burron'.  Since  the  fort  or  protected 
place  would  usually  be  an  elevated  ground,  or 
would  be  surrounded  by  an  artificial  mound  of 
earth,  we  have  sometimes  confounded  the  Anglo- 
Saxon  termination  burgh  with  the  v/ord  meaning 
hill,  which  we  have  in  xcabcrg.  In  Scotland  the 
termination  retains  its  oriirinal  roujrbness,  and  is 
spelled  burgh.  In  the  north  of  England  it  is  soft- 
ened into  borough,  and  in  the  south  and  west  into 
bury.  In  many  of  the  places  in  England  ending 
in  borough  or  bury  the  remains  of  the  ancient  hill- 
fort  can  be  found  near  by,  and,  in  some  cases,  it 
is  known  by  the  name  of  Castle,  as  Marbury  Cas- 
tle and  Weuisbury  Castle.  In  many  cases  this 
earthwork  is  of  Celtic  origin,  though  perhaps  util- 
ized by  the  Saxon  conquerors,  and  given  the  Sax- 
on name  after  it  had  been  lost  by  the  original 
builders.    The  one  best  worth  visitins;  is  the  great 


190  ENGLISH    WORDS. 

mound  at  Marlborough,  in  Wilts,  where  is  now 
one  of  the  great  modern  schools.  Marlborough 
is  Merlin's  barrow,  and  the  tradition  is  that  the 
mound  is  Merlin's  grave.  A  part  of  London  is 
called  the  Borough.  This  is  named  from  an  an- 
cient earthwork  which  once  protected  the  city  on 
that  side. 

The  suffix  havi  is  distinctively  Saxon.  It  is 
the  same  word  as  home.  Thus  we  have  Xortham. 
Allingham,  Buckingham,  etc.  Sometimes  the  ham 
is  united  to  ton.  as  Hampton.  S.uithampton.  indi- 
cating, perhaps,  that  the  home  has  developed  into 
a  ton  or  town.  In  very  many  cases  the  syllable 
ing  is  combined  with  ton.  lug  is  the  patronymic 
or  tribal  designation.  Thus  the  Wariugs  are  the 
tribe  or  family  of  JFa^r,  and  their  settlement  was 
Wariugton  ;  and  Allingham  was  the  home  of  the 
tribe  of  Al ;  Arlington  the  ton  of  the  children  of 
Arl.  This  syllable  ing  is  Saxon  and  Xorse  both. 
Thus  the  Vacringcr,  or  Xorse  soldiers  employed 
by  the  Saracens  were  JVarings.  The  syllables 
ham  and  ton  and  ing  in  the  names  of  I-'rench 
towns,  as  Aubingcs,  Bcaubigny.  Brantigny,  de- 
rived from  settlements  of  the  yEbing.  the  Bob- 
bing.^ the  Brantiug,  determine  the  limits  of  the 
Saxon  settlements  in  France,  and,  when  found  in 
German  towns,  indicate  the  original  home  of  the 
Saxons  and  their  allied  tribes. 

The  X'orse  settlements  are  indicated  by  the  syl- 


GEOGRAPHICAL    NAMES.  IQI 

lable  by  or  bye,  a  home,  which  in  Xormandy  takes 
the  form  bxiif  or  bur..  Thus,  in  the  Danish  dis- 
trict of  England  we  find  towns  called  Grimsby, 
Derby,   Whitby,  Rugby,  Kirby. 

Thorpe  means  a  village,  as  in  Althorpe,  etc. 
Toft,  or,  in  Normandy,  tot,  as  in  Iretot,  Ivo's  toft 
or  homestead,  is  Danish  as  distinguished  from 
Norwegian  :  but  Thwait:,  a  field,  is  Norwegian. 

Ville,  in  many  cases,  is  Romance  from  villa,  but 
is  also  Norse,  from  wcikr,  a  house.  In  P^lngland  it  is 
found  sometimes  as  ivcU  or  «'///,  as  in  Ktttlcwell. 

Ford,  in  both  Saxon  and  Norse,  is  connected 
with  the  word  firan,  to  go,  which  we  see  in  fare- 
well and  fare,  cost  of  travelling.  Ikit  the  Saxon 
ford  is  a  place  for  passing  a  river  for  man  and 
beasts,  while  the  y^oxso.  ford  \s  fiord,  a  navigable 
arm  of  the  sea.  Thus  Oxford  is  the  place  to 
cross  the  river  Ox,  but  Wexford,  Deptford,  and 
Carlingford  are  named  from  bays  or  creeks,  and 
are  Norse  names. 

Another  Norse  word  which  may  be  confounded 
with  a  similar  Saxon  one  is  tuie.  With  the  Norse- 
men it  meant  a  harbor  or  bay,  hence  Wikings  or 
Vikings  are  baymen,  or  longshoremen.  Sandwich 
is  Sandy  bay,  and  Bemnck,  Wicklow,  etc.,  names 
given  to  places  near  the  sea,  are  Norse. 

N'ess  or  N'aze,  a  nose  or  rocky  promontory,  and 
scar,  a  cliff,  seen  in  Caithness,  Scarborough,  and 
the  Skerries,  indicate  Norse  occupation. 


192  ENGLISH    WORDS. 

On  comparing  the  Saxon  and  Norse  geograph- 
ical names*  we  note  that  the  proportion  of  tojis 
and  JiaJHS,  compared  to  hycs,  thwaitcs,  tJi07-pcs, 
varies  in  different  localities,  and  indicates  the  ter- 
ritories where  each  race  settled.  Again,  the  ions 
and  hams  indicate  tribal  settlements,  for  they  arc 
generally  united  to  ing,  but  the  hycs  are  preceded 
by  the  name  of  an  individual.  Thus  Grhnsby  is 
the  place  where  Grim,  a  captain  of  a  band  of  sea- 
rovers,  settled  with  his  men ;  but  Buckingham  is  a 
tribal  home,  not  named  from  one  man.  In  both 
cases  the  fact  of  the  detached  character  of  the 
Teutonic  settlements,  referred  to  by  Tacitus,!  is 
well  brought  out,  for  all  the  Saxon  syllables  ham, 
ton,  yard,  etc.,  indicate  an  enclosed  and  guarded 
place.  This  love  for  a  fenced-off,  private  owner- 
ship of  land  is  still  characteristic  of  Englishmen. 

The  study  of  the  derivations  of  geographical 
names  adds  very  greatly  to  the  interest  of  travel, 
and  gives  reality  to  history.     In  particular,  the 


'■•■  The  class  of  names  rcsultini^  from  the  early  Norse  inva- 
sions must  not  be  confounded  with  the  much  later  Norman- 
Frencli  names  in  England. 

f  Nullas  (lermanorum  populis  urhes  liabitari  satis  nntum 
est,  ne  jiati  (|uidem  inter  se  junctas  sedes.  Colunt  discrcti 
ac  diversi,  ut  fons,  ut  campus,  ut  iiemus  jilacuit.  \'ivos  lo- 
cant  non  in  nostrum  morem  connexis  et  coluvrentibus  a^di- 
ficiis  ;  suam  quisipie  domum  spatio  circumdat,  sivc  adversus 
casus  it;nis  remedium  sive  inscitia  rcdificandi.  —  Tacittis 
(icniiaiiia,  16. 


GEOGRAPHICAL    NAMES.  1 93 

names  of  the  streets,  houses,  and  places  in  Lon- 
don embody,  frequently  in  a  very  odd  and  strik- 
ing way,  a  great  many  historical  events.  This  is 
true  of  Cheapside,  Pall  Mall,  Temple  Bar,  Picca- 
dilly, High  Holborn,  Southwark,  the  Savoy,  Rotten 
Row,  and  many  other  London  names. 

Besides  Mr.  Taylor's  hook,  N'anies  and  Places,  my  acknowl- 
edgments to  which  have  already  been  made,  Edmunds's 
Tmccs  of  History  in  the  A\v;/es  of  Places  may  also  be  read, 
Webster  s  Unabridged  contained  a  list  of  geographical  ety- 
mologies unfortunately  omitted  in  the  International.  The 
popular  etymologies  of  Indian  names,  as  Alabama  (here  we 
rest),  Kentucl:y  (dark  and  bloody  ground),  etc.,  are  usually 
pure  inventions.  Blakie's  Etymological  Dictionary  of  Place 
Names  is  useful  for  reference. 

13 


CHAPTER  XV. 

SURNAMES. 

Logically,  a  proper  name  is  a  different  kind  of 
word  from  a  common  noun,  for  it  is  a  word  appro- 
priated to  a  single  individual.  Strictly  speaking, 
a  proper  name  has  no  meaning,  or  at  best  but  an 
arbitrary  and  temporary  one.  We  call  a  man 
John,  but  the  word  is  not  exclusively  appropriated 
to  him,  and  does  not  convey  the  slightest  informa- 
tion about  him  to  a  stranger.  His  surname  indi- 
cates that  his  father  bears  the  sam.e  last  name, 
but  affords  no  clew  to  the  character  of  tlie  man 
himself.  But,  philologically,  surnames  and  Chris- 
tian names  do  not  differ  from  other  words.  They 
are  growths,  and  every  syllable  of  them  has  or 
once  had  a  meaning.  We  confine  ourselves  to  the 
consideration  of  surnames  because  they  are  com- 
paratively modern  in  origin — not  dating  back  l^e- 
yond  the  tenth  century.  Given  names,  on  the 
contrary,  are  of  extreme  antiquity.  Harold  and 
Albert  and  Ivhvard  and  Edith  were  names  borne 
by  our   Saxon   ancestors   before  the    Conquest ; 


SURNAMES.  195 

John,  Elias,  Abraham,  Noah,  and  Adam  antedate 
English  history  itself. 

The  v.'ord  surname  is  not,  as  might  naturally 
be  supposed,  derived  from  sire  7ia>n:,  or  father 
name,  but  from  supra  7iomefi,  or  extra  name.  We. 
know  this  because  it  is  spelled  with  a  //,  and  not 
\vith  an  /,  and  also  from  the  fact  that  in  the 
Provencal  language  it  is  written  souhrcnoin.  The 
question  of  early  spelling  is  often  of  the  greatest 
importance  in  tracing  derivations.  If  it  is  possi- 
ble to  follow  a  family  name  back  through  old 
deeds,  wills,  tax -lists,  court -records,  etc.,  to  the 
fourteenth  century,  the  early  spelling  will  almost 
invariably  furnish  a  clew  to  the  original  meaning, 
for  names  were  rarely  given  arbitrarily,  but  usu- 
ally for  some  evident  reason. 

The  old  spelling  will  also  frequently  determine 
which  of  the  possible  derivations  is  the  true  one. 
Thus  the  name  IVjodman  might  originally  mean  a 
forester,  or  it  might  possibly  once  have  been  writ- 
ten Woadvian^  which  means  dyer,  from  7i'oad,  the 
native  indigo  used  by  both  Britons  and  Saxons  in 
dying  the  rough  woollen  cloth  they  made.  Cole- 
vian  might  be  a  maker  of  charcoal  for  the  forges 
of  the  primitive  smiths,  or  it  might  be  cunning 
man,  since  col  meant  cunning.  This  syllable  col 
is  seen  in  the  name  Colfax^  or  tlie  cunning  fox. 
The  syllable  fax  might  be  originally  fox,  or  it 
might  come  from  facere,  to  do,  as  in  the  name 


196  ENGLISH    WORDS. 

Fail-fax,  which  comes  from  the  motto  of  the 
family:  "  Fare,  fac,'"  or  say.  do.  The  other  syl- 
lable, yiz/r  ox  far,  found  in  so  many  names,  like 
Fairjuan,  Playfair,  Fairchild,  Farwcll,  Farnuiii, 
etc.,  is  especially  troublesome.  It  may  be  from 
the  Saxon /rt-Zr,  meaning  beautiful,  clear,  just;  or 
it  may  be  from  the  Saxon  faren,  to  travel ;  or 
the  German  fern,  distant ;  or  the  English  far  or 
fern;  or  the  Norman  Frere,  brother  ;  or  the  Latin 
facere,  to  do,  ox  far i,  to  speak.  The  ancient  spell- 
ing or  some  extraneous  information  will  fre- 
quently afford  a  clew  in  investigations  of  this  sort, 
but  numerous  insolvable  cases  remain.  If  it 
were  not  for  questions  of  this  nature  etymology 
would  be  a  comparatively  simple  matter,  and 
would  possess  an  element  of  certainty  which 
would  deprive  it  of  much  of  its  charm. 

Surnames  came  into  general  use  very  slowly. 
We  may  say,  broadly,  that  the  introduction  of  the 
surname — as  we  understand  the  term,  a  name 
common  to  all  the  children  of  a  fam.ily — dates 
from  the  tenth  century,  and  was  not  general  be- 
fore the  fourteenth  century.  Indeed,  there  were 
districts  in  Wales  in  the  last  generation  where 
individuals  possessed  but  one  name.  Now  it  has 
become  difficult  for  a  man  to  change  his  surname. 
Tyrwhitt  says  in  his  edition  of  Chaucer :  "  It 
is  probable  that  the  use  of  surnames  was  not  in 
Chaucer's  time  fully  established  among  the  lower 


SURNAMES.  197 

class  of  people,"  and  Lower,  in  his  work  on  sur- 
names, holds  that  hereditary  surnames  can  scarce- 
ly be  said  to  have  been  permanently  settled 
among  the  lower  class  before  the  era  of  the  Ref- 
ormation. Among  the  upper  classes  the  name 
of  the  estate  descended  from  father  to  son  and 
served  as  a  distinctive  appellation,  but  the  pedi- 
gree of  the  Fitz-Hugh  family  runs  thus  through 
nine  generations  : 

Bardolph. 

Akaris  Fitz-Bardolph. 
Hervey  Fitz-Akaris. 
Henry  Fitz-Hervey. 
Randolph  Fitz-Henry. 
Henry  Fitz-Randolph. 
Randolph  Fitz-Henry. 
Hugh  Fitz-Randolph. 
Henry  Fitz-Hugh. 

This  last  Henry  assumed  the  name,  Fitz-Hugh, 
and  gave  it  permanence  as  a  family  application 
in  the  reign  of  Fxhvard  HI.  In  the  same  reign 
(1340)  v/e  find  the  following  in  a  list  of  the  com- 
monalty : 

Johannes  over  the  Water. 

William  at  Bishope  Gate. 

Johannes  o'  the  Shephouse. 

Agnes  the  Priest's  Sister. 

Johannes  in  the  Lane. 


198  ENGLISH    WORDS. 

Johannes  at  Sec. 
Johannes  le  Taillour. 
Johannes  of  the  Gutter. 

This  shows  that  surnames  were  not  universal  in 
the  fourteenth  century.  The  growth  of  civiUza- 
tion  making  it  necessary  to  identify  every  person, 
and  confusion  arising  from  the  multipHcation  of 
the  baptismal  names,  men  were  forced  to  use 
some  sobriquet  as  a  distinctive  mark.  By  de- 
grees these  became  firmly  attached  surnames. 
For  a  long  period  it  was  legal  for  a  man  to  change 
liis  surname,  but  not  his  baptismal  name.  Lord 
Coke  holds  this  distinctly.  While  the  oldest  son 
among  the  Xormans  in  England  assumed  the 
name  of  the  paternal  estate,  the  younger  sons  not 
infrequently  assumed  entirely  dilTerent  ones  on 
acquiring  land  in  other  counties.  Thus  Richard, 
Earl  of  Brionnc,  has  iive  names  in  Domesday 
]]ook  (the  list  of  knights  who  accompanied  the 
Conqueror).     He  is  called : 

1.  Richard  de  Tourbridge,  from  a  lordship  in 
Kent. 

2.  Richard  de  fjcnfeld. 

3.  Richard  de  Renefacta. 

4.  Richard  de  Clare,  from  a  Suffolk  lordship. 

5.  Richard     Fitz  -  (Gilbert,    from'    his     fatlier's 
name. 


SURNAMES,  199 

To  go  back  a  step  further,  we  find  that  as  a 
rule  our  Saxon  ancestors  were  content  with  but 
one  name,  as  Gurth,  or  Cedric,  or  Alfred.  To 
avoid  confusion,  they  sometimes  distinguished 
two  men  of  the  same  name  by  adding  the  tribal 
name,  usually  ending  in  i/ig  or  the  father's  given 
name.  Sometimes  a  descriptive  appellation  was 
used,  as  :  Harold  Harefoot,  Edmund  Ironsides, 
Edward  the  Confessor,  Edith  Swansneck ;  and 
Bede  tells  us  of  two  priests  named  ■  Hewald, 
"  whom,"  he  says,  "  we  distinguished  as  Hewald 
Black  and  Hewald  White,  by  reason  of  the  differ- 
ence in  color  of  their  hair."  From  this  early 
time  when  two  names  *  were  unusual,  comes  the 
habit,  still  surviving,  of  calling  sovereigns  by 
their  single  baptismal  name.  English  bishops 
still  sign  their  Christian  names  and  the  names 
of  their  sees  to  all  documents.  That  the  first 
names  of  the  contracting  parties  are  used  in  the 
marriage  service  is  also  an  ancient  survival. 

A  classification  of  surnames  by  their  deriva- 
tions gives  us  four  principal  classes  :t 

First;  surnames  derived  from  personal  names. 

*\Vhen  a  missionary  baptized,  as  we  are  told  was  the 
case,  an  entire  company  of  men  John,  and  an  equal  number 
of  women  Catharine,  some  distinctive  nicknames,  or  eke 
names,  would  be  absolutely  necessary. 

f  Thirty  years  ago  the  negroes  in  the  south  had  no  real 
surnames,  and  even  now  they  change  their  names  with  great 
readiness. 


2  00  ENGLISH    WORDS. 

These  nearly  always  take  the  patronymic  form,  as 
Henrickson  or  MacAdam.  But  in  a  few  cases 
the  given  name  of  the  father  has  been  adopted 
as  a  family  name  ;  thus  we  have  Henry  George, 
Patrick  Henry,  Henry  James,  William  I-aul,  and  a 
few  others. 

Second ;  local  surnames.  These  are  derived 
from  an  estate,  manor,  or  village,  or  from  some 
natural  feature  of  the  earth,  as  Henry  Hill,  David 
Dudley  Field,  William  Wood,  Henry  Yorke,  John 
Worthington. 

Third ;  occupative  surnames,  drawn  from  some 
trade  or  office.  This  is  a  very  numerous  class. 
We  find  Carpenters,  Taylors,  Smiths,  Websters, 
Turners,  and  Wrights,  or  Stewarts,  Butlers,  and 
Chamberlains  everywhere. 

Fourth ;  surnames  derived  from  personal  pecu- 
liarities, from  nicknames,  from  some  fancied  re- 
semblance to  a  bird  or  to  an  animal.  Thus  we 
have  White,  Brown,  Black  or  Blake,  Talman, 
Armstrong,  Crookshanks,  Lamb,  Cow,  Fox,  etc. 
Into  this  class  must  come  those  names  derived 
from  business  signs,  from  heraldic  animals  pict- 
ured on  coats  of  arms,  and  from  family  mottoes. 
Of  such  a  name  as  Lion,  or  ]]ull,  we  cannot  say 
whether  it  was  fa-st  given  by  reason  of  the  strength 
or  courage  of  the  man  originally  bearing  it.  or  be- 
cause he  was  the  landlord  of  an  inn  having  the 
beast  on  its  siifn.    Names  of  this  derivation  might 


SURNAMES.  201 

properly  come  under  class  three ;  but  as  this  der- 
ivation is  rarely  certain,  we  are  obliged  to  put 
them  in  class  four. 

From  names  formed  in  any  of  these  four  ways 
patronymics  might  be  formed.  The  son  of  Will- 
iam the  Clerk  might  be  called  John  Clarkson  ;  of 
George  Brown,  Henry  Brownson  or  Brunson. 
John  gives  us  Johnson,  Johns,  and  Jones.  Daw, 
the  short  for  David,  gives  us  Dawson,  and  Lamb, 
Lampson.  The  territorial  appellative,  Whitby,  is 
the  source  of  the  family  name  Whitbyson.  Patro- 
nymics formed  from  territorial  names  are  rare,  but 
they  are  very  generally  formed  from  personal 
names.  Thus  twenty-four  forms  come  from  Will- 
iam :  Williams,  Williamson,  Wills,  Wilks,  Wilkins, 
Wilkinson,  Wickens,  Wickenson,  Bill,  Bilson, 
Wilson,  Woolson,  Woolcock,  Woolcot,  Wooley, 
Wilcoxe,  Wilcoxson,  Wilcoxon,  Willet,  Willy, 
Willis,  Wilsie,  Wylie,  Willott,  and  probably  Wool- 
sey.  Most  of  these  are  patronymics,  though 
some  are  diminutives.  Woolcot  and  W'illcox,  for 
instance,  mean  little  Will,  and  might  have  been 
applied  to  a  diminutive  person,  as  well  as  to  a 
child. 

The  Gaelic  patronymic  prefix  is  Jlfac  or  O ;  the 
Cymric  is  O  or  Ap.  In  Ireland  O  meant  grand- 
son, or,  in  a  more  enlarged  sense,  any  male  de- 
scendant. Afac  meant  son.  The  O  is  supposed 
in   Ireland   to  be  more   ancient   than  the  Mac, 


202  ENGLISH   WORDS. 

and  is  more  common.  With  the  exception  of 
O'Gowan,*  it  is  not  found  attached  to  any  indus- 
trial name,  which  may  account  for  the  idea 
that  it  is  considered  the  more  honorable  prefix. 
Both  these  prefixes  designate  not  only  the 
children  of  a  family,  but  the  members  of  a  clan. 
CIa7i  means  children.  In  Gaelic  Scotland  the 
Mac  only  was  used.  But  the  members  of  a  clan 
were  only  theoretically  blood-relations,  not  neces- 
sarily so.  The  Norman  Fitz  and  the  Danish  Son 
mean  son  of  the  blood.  The  Welsh  also  used 
the  genitive  s^  as  in  Williams,  Davids,  Jones,  to 
designate  the  son,  though  ap  v/as  their  ancient 
form.  The  Saxon  sufiix  iiig  was  a  tribal  patro- 
nymic. \s&  see  it  in  Waring,  Ailing^  or  Billings, 
where  it  has  the  meaning  of  the  "descendants 
of."  It  is  the  oldest  and  rarest  patronymic  in 
use,  though  the  Celtic  O  may  lay  claim  to  equal 
antiquity.  The  Cymric  patronymic  Ap  is  usually 
amalgamated  v.'ith  the  personal  name.  Thus 
Price  is  Ap  Rice,  the  son  of  Rhys ;  Pugh  is  Ap 
Pli/g/i,  Powell  is  Ap  Ilozi'cll,  Bowen  is  Ap  Ozi\n, 
Pritchard  is  Ap  Richard,  Bethell  is  Ap  lihcll, 
Bevan  is  Ap  Evan,  and  as  Evan  and  Ivan  are 
forms  of  John,  Bevan  is  the  same  name  as  John- 
son or  Jones,  which  is  really  Johns.  Most  of  the 
names  beginning  in  Ap  are  V»"elsh,  like  Apple- 

*  CJowan  means  a  smith. 


SURNAMES.  203 

gate,  Ap  Legatt ;  Appleyard,  Ap  Ledyard,  and 
Apthorp*'  The  distinctively  Welsh  names  are 
Owens,  Davis,  Morgan,  Howell,  Jones,  and  Will- 
iams. 

To  return  to  our  first  class  of  surnames,  those 
derived  directly  from  personal  names,  one  of  the 
first  things  that  strikes  us  as  peculiar  about  the 
English  is  their  inveterate  habit  of  shortening 
the  given  name  of  a  man  to,  if  possible,  one  syl- 
lable. Thus,  if  a  man  were  christened  Bartholo- 
mew they  called  him  Bat,  from  whence  come  the 
surnames  Bates,  Bartlette,  and  Babcock.  The 
suffi.xcs  cock,  gjf,  lot,  and  kin  were  diminutives  of 
good-fellowship  or  of  endearment.  The  sylla- 
bles appear  in  many  of  our  surnames,  as  Wil- 
kins,  Wilcox,  Simcox.  Cock  is  seen  also  in  the 
expressions  cock-xo\:iw\,  r^rZ'- sparrow.  Cock-xohm 
in  the  nursery  song  does  not  necessarily  mean 
male  robin,  but  quite  as  much,  dear  little  robin. 
Matilda,  shortened  to  Till,  was  made  Tillot,  and 
Tillot  and  I'illotson  are  used  as  surnames,  for 
there  are  a  few  matronymics  to  be  found  in 
English.  Margaret  v/as  shortened  to  Margot, 
and  we  find  the  rare  name  Margotson.  Walter 
v/as  Wat,  whence  Watts  and  Watson.  John  was 
Jack,  whence   Jackson.     Robert  was   shortened 

*  Aptliorpe,  ht)\vever,  is  tliought  to  be  Atlliorpe,  or  of 
the  village  ;  Appleton  and  Applegarth  are  compounded  of 
Apple  and  tlie  Saxon  syllal)le.s,  ton  or  i^nrth. 


204  ENGLISH   WORDS. 

to  Robin,  Rob,  Dob,  and  Dod,  whence  Robert- 
son, Robinson,  Robeson,  Dobson,  and  Dodson. 
David  was  Daw,  whence  Dawson,  and  Horace 
was  Hod,  whence  Hodson.  From  Isaac  comes 
Hick,  hence  Hicks  and  Hixson  and  Hitchcock ; 
from  Gilbert,  Gib  and  Gibson.  No  other  na- 
tion exercises  this  unlicensed  habit  of  deform- 
ing given  names.  The  Frenchman  certainly  pro- 
nounces his  name — Emile,  Leon,  or  Adolphe — 
in  full,  Xfcknames  are  given,  it  is  true,  by  all 
nations.  A  nickname  is  an  eke  name,  or  an  ad- 
ditional name  invented  in  a  jesting  spirit,  and 
must  not  be  confounded  with  a  shortened  given 
name. 

A  patronymic  is  pretty  sure  to  date  back  to 
the  sixteenth  century,  ifnot  to  a  much  earlier 
period.  The  old  ^Biblfe  Christian  names,  like 
Samuel,  Jacob,  Daniel,  Peter,  John,  and  James, 
have  all  given  us  patronymic  derivr.tives.  Joseph, 
too,  appears  in  Jessop.  But  the  Bible  names 
adopted  in  the  seventeenth  century  by  the  Puri- 
tans, like  Asa,  Abijah,  Seth,  Eli,  Jabez,  liave  not 
resulted  in  any  patronymics,  because  they  were 
taken  up  after  surnames  were  pretty  well  set- 
tled. Some  personal  names  that  have  disappeared 
from  use  are  preserved  in  patronymics.  The  Nor- 
man names  Ivo,  Hugo,  Hammet,  once  so  com- 
mon, are  novv  never  given  to  English-speaking 
boys,  but  survive  in  the  surnames  Ives,  Iveson, 


SURNAMES.  205 

Hughes  and  Hajnliti*  The  very  pretty  girl-names, 
']o')'ze:,  joyeiise,  or  merry;  Lattice,  Zi'////<?,  or  inno- 
cent pleasure;  and,  best  of  all,  Hilary,  from  the 
root  of  hilarious  or  happy,  now  lost,  might  very 
properly  be  revived  in  use. 

The  second  division  is  local  or  territorial  sur- 
names. Barons  to  whom  a  grant  of  land  was 
made  usually  took  the  name  of  the  town  or  es- 
tate which  was  their  foef.  In  French-English 
names  this  is  generally  evidenced  by  the  prefix 
de^  which  we  see  in  the  names  Devcreux,  Dcla- 
Jiclii,  Delamder,  Dclaucy,  Dclancey,  etc.  Then, 
again,  nothing  was  more  natural  than  to  call  a 
man  after  the  place  of  his  abode,  as  John  of  the 
Mill,  William  at  the  Brook  or  River.  Atwood, 
Atwaier,  Woods  and  lVat:rs,  N'as/i  or  Afen  -Ash, 
Nokes  or  Attcn  -  Oaks,  Green,  Lane,  Townsaid, 
Shaw,  Lay,  or  Leigh,  and  Dean  are  local  names. 
A  shaw  was  a  small  thick  wood  ;  a  dean  or  den 
was  a  wooded  valley,  and  a  lay  or  lea  was  a  pasture. 
Dean,  like  Parsons,  might  also  be  derived  from 
an  ecclesiastical  title.  Graves  is  the  same  as 
Groves.  Cliffe,  Clifford,  and  Cleveland  are  of  sub- 
stantially the  same  meaning.  Any  name  end- 
ing in  thii'ait,  an  enclosure ;  ton  or  by,  a  town  ; 
combe,  a  ridge ;  throp  or  thorpe  or  ville,  a  village  ; 

*  Hugo,  however,  appears  in  Hugh,  and  Hamelin,  a 
little  town  or  hamlet,  may  be  a  duplicate  source  for  Ham- 
lin. 


206  ENGLISH    WORDS. 

ha7n,  a  home  ;  ly  or  e}\  an  island  ;  ox  ford,  a  path, 
is  pretty  certain  to  be  a  territorial  name.  From 
the  cathedrals  we  have  the  names  St.  Omcrs, 
or  Sommers ;  Si.  Denis,  or  Sidney ;  St.  Clair, 
or  Sinclair,  etc.,  though  names  of  this  denom- 
ination may  have  been  (in  some  instances)  de- 
rived from  the  motto  or  family  war-cry  embody- 
ing the  name  of  the  patron  saint.  From  the 
points  of  the  compass  we  have  North,  Norris, 
South,  Southcy,  Surrey,  West,  Wesley,  East,  Easter- 
ly, and  Sterling.  IVa/'aee  and  L Estrange,  mean- 
ing a  foreigner,  evidently  have  reference  to  the 
place  of  abode,  though,  strictly  speaking,  not  local 
names. 

From  the  names  of  countries  we  have  Irish, 
Scott,  French,  Brett  and  Br  it  ton  from  Brittany, 
Burgoyne  from  Burgundy,  Gale  from  Gael,  yanc- 
ivay  from  Genoese,  A'onnan  from  Normandy, 
Saxon,  IVaies,  and  J/orris."^ 

Bottom  is  the  old  Sussex  word  for  valley,  and 
is  compounded  in  a  number  of  English  names, 
as  FIiggin/''c'///67;/,  Winier/'Ottom,  etc.  Burne  is  a 
brook  ;  Chugh,  a  ravine ;  Cobl',  a  harbor ;  Crouch, 
a  cross,  of  which  so  many  were  erected  in  the 
market-places  of  towns.  Hatch  is  a  gate  ;  // vV  is 
a  grove  ;  Lynch,  a  thicket ;  Biiss.  a  heath  ;  Syhes, 
a  spring ;  Sa/e,  a  hall.     These  are  all  territorial 

*  Morris  and  .Moore  !ia\e  .several  derivations  :  Moor,  a 
plain  ;   Moor,  an  Arab  ;    Mohr,  great,  etc. 


SURNAMES.  207 

names,  though  lioss  may  be,  in  some  instances, 
from  the  word  meaning  red. 

The  names  of  places  and  persons  not  unfre- 
quently  end  in  /lam,  ingham,  or  iiigtoji.  These 
are  true  Saxon  territorial  names.  The  termina- 
tion iug  meant  belonging  to  the  tribe.  Thus, 
King  is  really  son  of  the  tribe.  The  Eppings 
and  Hastings  are  the  descendants  of  Acs,  the 
Warings  of  JVac'r,  the  Erpings  of  Br/',  and  so  on 
through  some  two  hundred  and  fifty  monosyllabic 
given  names.  Very  few  of  tliese  words  ending 
in  u/g  are  found  to-day  in  England  as  surnames, 
because  the  custom  of  adopting  transmissible 
family  appellations  was  not  instituted  in  Saxon 
England;  but  all  of  them  have  given  names  to 
English  villages,  though  usually  the  suffix  /o/i, 
town,  or  //a;n,  home,  is  added.  Thus  IValsing- 
Jiam  is  the  home  of  the  Walsing;  Worthington  is 
the  town  of  the  Worthing.  Then,  these  towns 
gave  surnames  to  those  who  lived  in  them,  and 
v/e  have  the  class  of  old  Saxon  names  like  Rem- 
ington, Hoisington,  Huntington,  Allington,  Erp- 
ingham,  Buckingham,  Washington,  and  many  oth- 
ers. These  are  the  finest  names  in  our  language. 
Coffi./i,  W'hich  is  seen  in  Covington,  is  the  only 
one  not  strong  and  euphonic.  In  addition  to 
these,  there  is  hardly  to  be  found  a  town  or 
county  that  has  not  given  a  surname  to  some 
families.     York,  Bradford,  Manchester,  Winches- 


2o8  ENGLISH    WORDS. 

ter,  Sheffield,  Kent,  Salisbury,  Richmond,  Chester, 
we  meet  everywhere. 

Of  the  third  class,  or  occupative  surnames,  we 
have  a  large  number,  and  as  a  rule  these  sur- 
names are  represented  by  a  larger  number  of  in- 
dividuals than  are  any  others.  The  Smith  was, 
of  course,  represented  in  every  village,  though 
he  is  sometimes  called  a  Goiver  or  a  Gozoan  in' 
Celtic  districts.  Then  v^-e  have  Bis/iops,  Clerks, 
Parsons,  Leaches,  Carters,  Tailors,  Turners,  Cooks, 
Fullers  or  cloth  -  v.'orkers,  Carpenters,  Wagners, 
Millers,  Wrights,  etc.,  in  abundance.  We  have 
no  doctors  nor  lawyers,  though  Councilman  is 
not  unknown,  nor  is  yuJge  as  a  surname.  Spenser 
is  dispensier,  the  man  who  had  charge  of  the  spence 
or  buttery.  Steroart  is  the  king's  steward,  and 
Butler  his  "  boteler."'  Many  old  forgotten  trades 
are  represented  in  occupative  surnames.  Scud- 
der  is  probably  Scuteler,  the  man  who  made  the 
wooden  trenchers  —  scutels  —  which  served  in- 
stead of  plates.  Latimer,  or  Latiner,  is  an  inter- 
preter; Pullinger  —  boulanger — is  a  baker;  jfen- 
ner  is  a  joiner.  In  Yorkshire,  Sack  means  a 
ploughshare,  and  from  this  comes  Sacksmith,  or 
Sixsmith.  Kidder  is  an  obsolete  word  for  huck- 
ster. No  one  can  make  anything  of  LundJiunter. 
Breii'cr,  Breiuster,  JFea7'er,  JVebb,  Webster,  Baker, 
and  Baxter  are  plain  enough.  JFalker  was  a 
man  who  inspected  the  king's  forest  and  guarded 


SURNAMES.  209 

the  game  from  poachers.  Dexter  appears  to  be 
from  daegsestre,  a  woman  who  works  by  the  day, 
or,  possibly,  from  the  word  meaning  a  maker  of 
daggers. 

A  Pilgrim  was  one  who  had  taken  a  journey  to 
any  shrine,  as  to  Canterbury.  A  -Palmer  was  one 
who  had  gone  to  Palestine.  There  were  so 
many  pilgrims  that  it  v.'as  not  used  as  a  distinct- 
ive name,  but  to  be  a  "  holy  palmer "  was  an 
honor.  The  porter  "  stood  at  the  castle  gate,'' 
the  tisher  within.  Now  there  are  many  Porters, 
but  few  Ushers.  The  reason  of  this  is  that 
Porter  had  an  additional  source — from  the  por- 
ters who  carried  burdens.  The  Hayward — from 
hay,  a  hedge — had  charge  of  the  animals  belong- 
ing to  the  town.  Hozoard  is  derived  from  this 
word,  unless  it  be  from  the  Saxon  Hereivard,  or 
general.  Hogward  gives  us  Haggard,  a  very  rare 
surname.  JVirth  and  Ward  are  the  terms  for 
Saxon  officials  often  found  in  combination  in 
surnames,  as  Woodszuorth,  Woodiaard,  etc.  A 
Barker  is  a  tanner. 

The  fourth  class  comprises  surnames  derived 
from  nicknames.  To  call  individuals  by  some 
personal  peculiarity  is  a  very  natural  propensity. 
The  Romans  and  the  modern  Italians  seem 
especially  fond  of  doing  so.  The  English  work- 
ing-men in  some  districts  still  have  two  names — 
one  their  regular  legal  name,  which  is  seldom 
14 


2IO  ENGLISH    WORDS. 

heard,  and  another,  the  nickname  by  which  they 
are  known  among  their  mates.  It  was  inevitable 
that  surnames  should  grow  out  of  those  sobri- 
quets, which  are  often  more  firmly  attached  than 
the  baptismal  name  itself.  Nicknames  can  be 
conveniently  divided  into  three  groups  : 

1.  Those  from  physical  or  external  peculiar- 
ities, relationship,  age,  size,  shape,  complexion, 
dress,  etc. 

2.  P>om  mental  and  moral  peculiarities.  Some- 
times these  are  complimentary,  sometimes  quite 
the  reverse. 

3.  Real  nicknames,  having  no  especial  mean- 
ing, or  from  some  fancied  resemblance  to  ani- 
mals. 

Under  the  first  sub-head  we  have  White,  Brown^ 
Blacky  Grey,  MorrcII  or  Moore — when  it  means 
black;  A'ott,  which  means  crop-haired;  I'eeL  which 
means  pilled  or  bald;  I^usse/I or  red.  and  a  variety 
of  others.  Byieze-mantle  is  the  origin  of  the  name 
Freemantle.  Bunker  means  Bon  Coiileur.  Big 
and  Small  and  Little  and  Pettit  explain  tlicm- 
selves.  The  odd  name  Bl'rel'raees  is  dcri\cd 
from  Bras  de  fer  (\xox\  arm)  by  inversion.  \\'e 
have,  too,  Younger,  Senior,  ^Inies,  from  Earn  (an 
uncle).  Kinsman,  and  Cozzens. 

Under  the  second  sub -head  we  have  Good, 
Fairspceeh,  Bine/ipenny,  Sa:'ea//,  Serapcskin,  etc. 

The  third  sub-head,  or  nicknames  proper,  pre- 


SURNAMES.  2  1 1 

sents  considerable  difficulties.  The  nickname  may 
have  been  meaningless,  or  it  may  have  become 
obsolete,  and  if  the  spelling  has  been  changed 
we  have  nothing  to  aid  us  in  reconstructing  it. 
When  we  find  a  name  that  seems  absolutely 
unexplainable,  it  is  convenient  to  be  able  to  say 
that  the  base  is  probably  an  unmeaning  sobri- 
quet. The  names  which  sound  like  the  names 
of  animals  —  as  Bull,  Lamb,  Wolf,  Lioii^  Crow, 
Swan,  Hart,  Stagg — may  possibly  have  originated 
in  nicknames,  and  afterwards  have  developed  into 
surnames,  but  it  is  much  more  likely  that  they 
originated  in  heraldic  devices  or  business  signs. 
Every  little  manufactory  had  its  device — a  ship, 
or  an  arrow,  or  a  rudely- carved  lion  or  bull's 
head.  The  proprietor  was  spoken  of  as  William 
of  the  Ship,  or  John  o'  the  Lion.  Inn  signs  were 
generally  double — a  device  on  each  side,  or  a 
line  divided  the  field,  as  in  the  shields  of  knights. 
Thus  we  have  the  "Goat  and  Compasses,"  the 
"Cat  and  Battledoor,"  the  "Bull  and  Mouth," 
"Pan  and  the  Bacchanalians" — this  last  corrupt- 
ed into  "  Pan  and  the  Bag  o'  Nails."  As  a  rule, 
heraldic  devices  were  borne  by  families  who  took 
the  name  of  an  estate,  and  the  names  of  animals 
given  as  nicknames  for  fancied  resemblance  in 
strength  or  swiftness  are  inextricably  mixed  up 
with  the  same  names  drawn  from  business  signs 
in  the  twelfth  and  thirteenth  centuries. 


2  12  ENGLISH    WORDS. 

The  number  of  names  in  each  of  the  above 
classes  varies  greatl}'.  Taking  a  large  number 
of  names  in  the  London  Directory,  it  was  com- 
puted that  about  twenty-five  per  cent,  were  from 
personal  names,  thirty-three  per  cent,  were  local, 
twelve  per  cent,  occupative,  twenty-five  per  cent, 
from  nicknames,  leaving  five  per  cent,  unac- 
counted for  and  unaccountable.  The  number 
of  individuals  in  each  class  would  differ  greatly 
from  these  ratios,  if  for  no  other  reason,  because 
a  disproportionate  number  of  persons  bear  the 
names  of  occupation.  S?nith,  Taylor,  Carpenter, 
JVebster,  Baker,  and  the  like,  and  the  personal 
derivatives,  jfoJuison,  Thompson,  Jones,  JVi/Iiams, 
are  also  very  well  represented.  Xo  one  terri- 
torial surname  is  borne  by  a  great  number  of 
persons.  White  and  Brown  are  also  very  com- 
mon. 

The  question  arises — Is  the  number  of  surnames 
increasing  or  diminishing  ?  We  hear  occasionally 
of  families  becoming  extinct  by  the  death  of  the 
"last  of  the  name."  On  the  other  hand,  a  few 
new  surnames  are  formed  even  now  by  variations 
in  spelling  or  the  anglicizing  of  foreign  names. 
The  entire  disappearance  of  a  name  is  rarer  than 
we  think,  as  it  will  generally  be  found  that  it  is 
preserved  in  the  family  of  some  remote  and  for- 
gotten offshoot.  The  practice  of  hyphenating 
names  like  "Floyd-Jones"  may  give  rise  to  some 


SURNAMES. 


213 


new  variants.  The  doctrine  of  chances  proves 
that  it  is  extremely  improbable  that  any  name 
that  has  lasted  from  the  fourteenth  century  to  the 
present  should  become  extinct  hereafter.  Fur- 
thermore, observations  on  sixty  names  in  Eng- 
land go  to  show  that  the  excess  of  births  over 
deaths  in  any  group  bearing  the  same  name  is 
normal,  or  the  same  as  that  of  the  great  bulk  of 
the  population. 

It  has  been  computed  from  a  careful  tabula- 
tion of  the  surnames  beginning  with  "A"  that 
the  entire  number  of  surnames  in  England  would 
exceed  thirty  thousand.  In  our  country  the  large 
foreign  element  would  make  the  number  still 
greater,  even  admitting  that  many  rare  English 
names  are  unrepresented  here,  and  that  many  for- 
eign names  have  been  assimilated  in  sound  and 
spelling  to  our  American  surnames. 

The  thirty  names  most  common  in  England 
are  given  in  the  following  table  from  Patronyinica 
Britannka,  in  the  order  of  their  frequency: 


I.  Smith,     one  in  every    73  of  entire  population. 


2.  Jones, 

'         "        76         '• 

3.  Williams, 

<              .         ,,.               u 

4.  Taylor, 

"    148 

5.  Davies, 

'         "      162          " 

6.  Brown, 

^     "   174     " 

7.  Thomas, 

"      196         " 

214 


EXGLISH    WORDS. 


8. 

Evans,   one  in 

every  198 

9- 

Roberts, 

u 

235 

lO. 

Johnson, 

li 

265 

II. 

Wilson, 

a 

275 

12. 

Robinson, 

u 

276 

13- 

Wright, 

a 

293 

14. 

Wood, 

ti 

301 

IS- 

Tliompson 

304 

16. 

Hall, 

<: 

305 

17- 

Walker, 

a 

310 

18. 

Green, 

a 

310 

19. 

Hughes, 

11 

312 

20. 

Edwards, 

a 

316 

21. 

Lewis, 

u 

318 

2  2 

White, 

a 

323 

23- 

Turner, 

u 

327 

24. 

Jackson, 

" 

330 

25- 

Hill, 

" 

352 

26. 

Harris, 

u 

355 

27. 

Clark, 

u 

3<^3 

28. 

Cooper, 

u 

380 

29. 

Harrison, 

<i 

390 

30- 

Ward, 

" 

402 

ation. 


These  thirty  names  are  applied  to  a  little  more 
than  one-sixth  of  the  entire  population  of  Eng- 
land. The  Welsh  name  Davies  is  distinct  from 
Davis,  which  has  one  representative  in  every  four 
hundred  and  twenty-one  luiglishmen.    This  name, 


SURNAMES.  215 

and  jfoncs,  Wil/iams,  Evans,  Oivens,  and  Edwards 
are  common  names,  because  there  are  so  few 
Welsh  surnames.  It  is  said  that  Eva?i  Evans — 
or  its  equivalent,  jfohn  yoncs — is  so  common  in 
Wales  that  it  does  not  individualize  its  owner  in 
the  least. 

Those  who  wish  to  look  up  this  siil)ject  more  fully  are 
referred  to  Lower's  Dictionary,  the  Patrotiyiiiica  Britaninca, 
to  the  Essay  on  English  Surnames,  and  to  The  I'entonic 
Name  System,  by  the  same  author.  These  contain  a  great 
deal  of  curious  information.  In  the  introduction  to  the 
first-named  is  an  account  of  the  older  authorities,  many  of 
whom  are  very  entertaining.  Robert  Ferguson's  book,  Sitr- 
naiJies  as  a  Science,  is  more  modern  (18S3),  and,  though 
treating  of  Init  a  limited  number  of  names,  more  systematic. 
An  earlier  work  by  the  same  author,  English  Surnames, 
may  also  be  consulted.  Bardsley's  English  Surnames  is 
entertaining,  but  limited.  Bowditch's  Suffolk  Surnames 
(third  edition)  contains  a  long  list  of  peculiar  names  found 
in  this  country,  but  the  author  seems  more  occupied  wilii 
the  humors  and  oddities  of  the  directories  than  with  scien- 
tific examination  or  classification.  P'or  given  names  Miss 
Yonge's  two  volumes  on  Christian  A^ames  cover  a  good 
deal  of  ground.  The  Appendix  to  Webster s  Dictionary 
will  also  be  found  useful. 


CHAPTER  XVI. 

WORDS    OF    THE    PROFESSIONS   AND   TRADES. 

To  the  philologist  the  meanings  of  words  are 
of  comparatively  little  importance  except  as  a 
means  of  identification.  He  follows  the  root 
through  its  various  fortunes,  pointing  out  how  it 
has  gathered  suffixes  and  prefixes  and  amalga- 
mated with  them,  or  dropped  them  in  the  course 
of  centuries  until  the  original  sound  is  entirely 
changed  and  the  word  becomes  part  of  a  new 
language — becomes,  in  fact,  a  new  word.  But  a 
great  deal  of  interesting  information  about  the 
early  professions  and  trades  can  be  gathered  by 
observing  the  peculiar  vocabulary  of  each.  Such 
an  examination  carried  but  a  little  way  will  throw 
incidentally  a  good  deal  of  light  on  history,  and 
will  show  how  men  instinctively  select  a  set  of 
words  having  a  relation  to  the  nature  of  their 
employments.  In  all  the  mechanical  trades  tech- 
nical terms  are  used  which  are  interesting  sur- 
vivals of  ancient  usage,  and  others  which  show 
when  improvements  in  tools  or  methods  were  in- 


WORDS    OF    PROFESSIONS    AND    TRADES.       217 

troduced.     Let  us  consider  first  the  ancient  and 
honorable  trade  of  the  smith. 

The  worker  in  iron  was  an  important  member 
of  society  in  the  early  village  communities.  He 
forged  the  rude  weapons  and  agricultural  imple- 
ments, shod  the  horses,  and  made  the  hasps, 
hinges,  and  nails  requisite  to  building  a  house. 
In  making  armor  great  proficiency  was  required, 
and  in  forging  railings,  screens,  and  ornamental 
work  a  high  degree  of  artistic  skill  was  often 
shown.  There  is  nothing  more  satisfying  to  the 
artistic  sense  than  finely- wrought  iron-work,  as 
there  is  nothing  more  unsatisfying  than  cast-iron 
ornaments.  One  is  the  product  of  human  intel- 
ligence, subduing  an  obdurate  material  directly 
by  strength,  patience,  and  skill ;  the  other  is  me- 
chanically produced  after  the  pattern  is  made, 
and  has  therefore  a  much  less  direct  relation 
to  the  human  mind.  For  all  these  reasons  the 
workman  in  iron  held  in  early  days  a  unique  posi- 
tion. He  was  not  called  a  smith  because  he  was 
a  smitcr,  as  was  originally  supposed.  Smith  is 
one  of  the  oldest  Teutonic  words,  and  is  probably 
connected  with  smooth.  But  his  helper  is  called 
a  striker.  To  smith  a  piece  of  iron  is  to  form  it 
v.'ith  the  hammer ;  but  to  forge  includes  the  idea 
of  heating  in  addition.  The  worker  in  brass  is 
not  a  smith,  but  a  brass-founder.,  because  brass 
is  melted,  and  if  wrought  is  hammered  with  liecht 


2l8  ENGLISH    WORDS. 

blows.  We  have  coj^per-smith,  gold-smith,  siher- 
smiih,  and  tin- sfnit/i,  because  these  metals  are 
ductile  and  require  smithing.  The  word  had 
many  metaphorical  applications  in  early  litera- 
ture. Not  only  do  we  read  of  the  armorer  by  the 
name  of  wacpna-smith,  but  we  have  the  promoter 
of  laughter  called  hicahtor-smith,  laughter-smith ; 
we  have  the  teacher  called  hir-smit/i,  lore-smith  ; 
and  the  warrior  called  wig -smith,  war- smith.* 
The  scales  which  fell  from  the  iron  were  called 
slag,  because  they  were  slugged  from  under  the 
sledge.  Nowadays  we  apply  the  term  slag  to 
the  impurities  which  float  on  molten  iron,  as 
blast-furnace  slag.  Etymologically  it  would  be 
more  correct  to  call  this  substance  by  the  orig- 
inal name,  si/uicr  or  cinder,  a  term  which  we  are 
inclined  to  confme  to  the  calcined  impurities  in 
coal-ashes.  The  old  terms  are  correctly  used  by 
the  hands  in  a  rolling-mill,  where  they  speak  of 
hammer-stag,  and  call  refuse  that  is  melted  and 
squeezed  out,  cinder,  not  cinders,  even  saying 
"  7-oIIcr  cinder y 

The  following  are  some  of  the  terms  used  by 

*  The  fact  that  now  the  word  sharp  would  lie  used  in 
folk-metaphor  for  many  of  the  above  meanings — the  teach- 
er, for  instance,  called  the  hooV-sharp ;  the  musician,  the 
piano-j-Z/a/y'y  the  geologist,  the  xoz\^-sJiarp — may  be  taken 
as  illustrative  of  the  difTcreiice  between  ancient  and  mod- 
ern times,  the  days  of  lionest  blows  and  the  days  of  sliifty 
devices. 


WORDS    OF    PROFESSIONS   AND   TRADES.       219 

the  smith  :  I'dlozc's,  wind,  tuyere,  anvil,  blast,  ham- 
mer, tap,  screw,  tongs,  fire,  sledge,  swedge,  file,  /lorn, 
npset,  weld,  flatter.  He  uses  the  word  wind  in 
the  sense  of  air,  and  speaks  of  the  luind  in  the 
bellows  as  he  might  speak  of  "  knocking  the 
wind"  out  of  an  antagonist,  not  the  atmosphere. 
The  moving  or  issuing  air  he  calls  the  blast. 
These  v/ords  are  of  Scandinavian  or  Anglo-Saxon 
origin,  and  show  that  the  Germanic  tribes  were 
skilful  workers  in  iron  before  they  came  into  con- 
tact with  the  Latin  races  ,  and,  further,  that  black- 
smiths continued  to  use  their  trade-terms  after 
the  Conquest,  without  much  reference  to  the  lan- 
guage *  of  the  XormanT'Yench.  The  \\o\<\sfor}ncr, 
7'iee,  and  die  are  Norman,  but  they  are  special 
tools,  adapted  to  produce  certain  shajDCs  more 
readily  than  can  the  hammer.  Chisel  is  Norman, 
but  even  now  a  blacksmith  calls  the  stationary 
chisel  fitted  into  a  square  hole  in  the  anvil,  pref- 
erably, a  cutter.  The  hole  in  the  anvil  has  also 
a  peculiar  name,  used  by  some  blacksmiths.     It 

*  The  back  of  the  hammer  is  called  by  mechanics  the 
pine,  and  to  straighten  a  piece  of  iron  by  light  blows  with 
the  sharp  back  on  the  hollow  side  is  said  to  be  io  pene  it. 
This  word  is  given  in  IFeister  as  pin,  as  if  connected  with 
the  Latin  pinna,  which  seems  impossible,  whether  we  re- 
gard pronunciation,  meaning,  or  probable  source.  Monkey- 
wrench  is  another  very  peculiar  expression.  None  of  the 
explanations  ofTered  concerning  its  origin  seem  entirely  sat- 
isfactory. 


2  20  ENGLISH    WORDS. 

would  be  worth  while  to  collect  all  the  blacksmith's 
words — many  of  which  are  not  in  the  dictionary 
— and  also  to  ascertain  whether  some  words  are 
not  in  use  in  this  country  that  have  been  lost  in 
England.  In  general  the  smiths  of  England  use 
more  archaic  words  than  do  those  of  America,  as 
SO  many  new  devices  to  save  hand  labor  are  in 
use  here. 

The  distinctive  names  of  the  parts  of  the 
steam-engine  were,  for  the  most  part,  taken  from 
those  of  similar  parts  of  a  pump — an  instrument 
which  was  known  to  the  Romans — so  that  we  find 
stea77i- chest,  piston,  cylinder,  valve,  governor,  con- 
necting-7-od,  crank,  main-  shaft,  balance-wheel,  ex- 
haust-pipe, eccentric,  cross- head,  stuffing-box,  gland, 
parallel -motion,  slides,  representing  a  very  large 
proportion  of  words  of  Latin  derivation,  as  might 
be  expected,  since  the  steam-engine  was  invented 
by  men  acquainted  with  the  use  of  scientific  in- 
struments, and  at  a  time  when  Latin  terms  had 
been  fully  naturalized.  Even  English  George 
Stephenson's  machine  was  called  a  locomotive, 
though  the  starting- valve  is  still  properly  the 
throttle.  Many  of  the  smaller  parts  of  the  con- 
struction—  key,  cotters,  gibs,  well-known  mechan- 
ical devices  of  great  antiquity,  and  adapted  to 
the  new  purpose  by  mechanics  —  have  Saxon 
names,  but  as  far  as  the  engine  is  a  "  thermody- 
namic machine,"  its  nomenclature  is  Latin.    The 


WORDS    OF    PROFESSIONS    AND    TRADES.       221 

compound  name,  sieam-cngine,  is  half  English  and 
half  Latin. 

As  the  art  of  printing  was  invented  in  Germany 
and  brought  to  England  through  Holland,  we 
might  expect  to  find  in  its  vocabulary  a  large 
proportion  of  Teutonic  words.  So  far  is  this 
from  being  the  case  that  there  is  no  trade  of 
which  the  nomenclature  is  so  distinctively  Latin. 
The  man  who  arranges  the  types  is  called  a  com- 
positor. He  takes  the  types  from  a  case,  and 
places  them  in  a  stick,  brings  his  stickfuls  to  a  gal- 
ley, puts  them  on  an  imposing-stone,  and  takes  an 
impression,  which  he  calls  a  proof;  corrects  the 
proof,  and  locks  the  type  in  a  form  with  quoins. 
Then,  the  proof-reader's  marks  are  all  Latin  ab- 
breviations, and  the  different  sizes  of  ty]iQ,pica, 
primer,  minion,  brevier,  and  agate,  are  all  called  by 
Latin  names,  and  the  same  is  true  of  the  element- 
ary parts  of  the  press  except  the  bed.  In  fact, 
so  thoroughly  Latin  is  the  printer's  vocabulary 
that  he  must  be  conscious  of  falling  below  the 
dignity  of  his  trade  when  he  asks  for  a  take  or 
speaks  of  pulling  a  proof,  or  calls  blank  spaces 
fat.  He  justifies  his  lines  by  spaces,  the  last  be- 
ing almost  the  only  Saxon  word  he  habitually 
uses.  Quad  is  quadrate,  a  square  space.  The 
pages  are  collected  into  signatures,  and  the  types 
are  finally  distributed  after  the  printing.  Ink,  too, 
is  a  Romance  word — en  caustre — though  adopted 


22  2  ENGLISH    WORDS. 

into  old  English.  In  fact,  the  technical  vocabu- 
lary of  the  printer  is  as  Latin  as  that  of  the  law- 
yer. I'he  reason  of  this  is  that  the  first  printers 
were  learned  men,  and  Latin  was  the  language  of 
scholars  in  the  fifteenth  century.  They  were  the 
successors  of  the  old  scribes.  Caxton  personally 
translated  from  Latin  a  number  of  the  books  he 
published — and  the  best  work  of  the  early  print- 
ers was  editions  of  the  classics.  Printing  was 
not  supposed  to  be  a  people's  art,  nor  could  any 
one  have  foreseen  that  it  was  to  be  one  of  the 
great  popular  forces.  So  its  language  is  scholas- 
tic, and  in  the  dialect  of  those  for  whose  service 
it  was  intended. 

The  trade  of  making  and  repairing  coverings 
for  the  feet  is  an  old  one  in  cold  countries  :  so  we 
find  that  those  following  it  are  cobblers  and  sJioc- 
makers,  not  chaussicrs,  and  may  be  pretty  sure  that 
our  Saxon  ancestors  did  not  go  barefooted  at  all 
times.  Cobbler  is  given  by  Skeat  as  from  couflare, 
to  join,*  as  if  a  cobbler  were  one  who  joins  new 
leather  to  old,  and  was  a  Xorman.  This  deriva- 
tion does  not  seem  consistent  with  the  character 
of  the  word  nor  with  the  fact  that  it  contains  two 
Fs,  nor  with  the  fact  tliat  the  cobbler's  tools  have 
all  Celtic  or  Saxon  names.      There  is   a  flavor 


*  See  discussion  of  this  word  in  Ci'iitury  DiclioJiary,  and 
in  Dr.  Murray's  Dictioimry. 


WORDS    OF    PROFESSIONS    AND   TRADES,       223 

about  the  word  which  does  not  belong  to  a  Latin 
derivative.  It  sounds  Hke  an  old  folk-word.  It 
is  the  same  word  as  that  found  in  cobble-stones,  with 
which  we  cobble  or  roughly  mend  a  wall.*  Shoe- 
maker, at  all  events,  is  above  suspicion  as  to  its 
genuinely  English  source,  and  so  are  the  shoe- 
maker's terms.  His  kit  is  a  small  receptacle  for 
tools ;  we  have  the  same  word  in  "  kit  of  mackerel." 
His  last  is  from  a  Saxon  word  meaning  a  track, 
connected  in  root  with  the  word  to  last — to  en- 
dure ;  to  pursue  is  the  same  as  to  track,  and  to 
pursue  unceasingly  implies  endurance  ;  so  there 
is  a  distant  connection  between  the  two  meanings 
of  last.  Vajiip  is  said  to  be  derived  from  avant- 
pied,  the  front  foot,  but  the  uppers  were  first  made 
from  a  single  piece,  Latimer  says.  So  vafvp  is  a 
modern  word.  Welt  may  be  of  Celtic  origin,  and 
lace  may  be  descended  from  the  Latin  laquens,  a 
snare,  though  this  seems  hardly  probable  in  the 
sense  of  boot- lace.  An'l,  lapsto7ie,  tuaxed  ends, 
leather,  hide,  pegs,  patch,  sole,  are  all  of  Teutonic 
origin.  2\iu,  if  not  from  an  English  root,  has 
been  used  so  long  that  it  may  be  regarded  as  an 
original  English  word.  Kip-skin  and  deacon'' s-skin 
are  undoubtedly  English,  though  their  derivations 

*  Why  should  it  not  be  distantly  connected  with  cobble, 
a  boat  (Celtic)  ?  The  wooden  shoes  of  the  French  peasant- 
ry are  hollowed  out  like  boats,  and  cobble,  a  boat,  is  based  on 
the  word  meanina;  to  excavate. 


2  24  ENGLISH    WORDS. 

are  not  known.  Tap,  so  universally  used  for  half- 
sole,  and  seen  in  the  old  phrase,  "  standing  on 
his  taps"  must  mean  either  the  itp  sole,  or  else  a 
sole  that  is  fastened  on  with  pegs  which  are  driv- 
en in  by  taps  of  the  hammer.  Foxing,  or  putting 
a  front  on  a  boot,  is  an  old  English  word.  Boots 
and  gaiters  are  of  course  comparatively  modern, 
for  our  ancestors  wore  shoes.  Many  of  these 
words  were  not  printed  nor  written,  unless  they 
may  have  appeared  in  some  of  the  Elizabethan 
dramas,  and  as  we  do  not  know  the  original  spell- 
ing, the  derivations  may  be  lost.  It  is  evident, 
however,  that  the  shoemaker  has  plied  his  trade 
and  used  the  same  words  for  his  implements  and 
materials  since  our  ancestors  emigrated  from 
Schleswig-Holstein. 

The  building  trades — masons  and  wood-workers 
— would  evidently  be  much  more  affected  by  the 
conquest  of  England  by  a  people  speaking  a  for- 
eign language  than  would  the  folk- trades — vil- 
lage smiths  and  cobblers  and  household-weavers. 
The  Normans  were  skilful  architects,  especially 
in  stone,  and  built  feudal  castles,  extensive  eccle- 
siastical buildings — cathedrals  and  monasteries. 
Most  of  the  important  buildings  were  erected 
under  a  Norman  master,  or  in  the  cities  where 
French  was  spoken  by  the  wealthy  classes.  The 
old  word  loright  was  dropped,  except  in  some 
special  cases,  like  7^'ai/i7orig/it,  ^^.'/lecIwrigJit.  mill- 


WORDS    OF    PROFESSIONS  AND    TRADES.       225 

Wright,  playwright,  and  a  few  others.  When  Chau- 
cer says  of  one  of  his  pilgrims : 

"  lie  was  a  well  good  wrigltte,  a  carpenterc," 

he  maybe  using  7uright  as  \\Q  should  use  mechan- 
ic— as  a  general  term — or  he  may  feel  it  necessary 
to  explain  a  Saxon  \vord  by  the  equivalent  Nor- 
man word.  However  this  may  be,  we  find  all 
through  the  vocabulary  of  these  trades  a  mixture 
of  English  and  French  words,  the  French  beinsf 
usually  applied  to  special  tools  and  to  work  of  a 
higher  grade,  and  the  English  to  simpler  and  more 
elementary  operations.  Carpenter,  joiner,  and  7na- 
son  are  French  words.  Builder  and  stone-cntter 
are  English.  House  and  home  and  cottage  are 
English,  and  so  are  the  elementary  parts  of  a 
simple  building:  the  doo)-s,  roof,  nails,  ivalls,*' 
sills,  caves,  beams,  rafters,  thatch,  shingles,  boards, 
laths,  scantling,  timber, floor.  On  the  other  hand,  the 
Joist,  from  jacere,  to  lie ,  the  studding,  from  sto,  to 
stand  :  the  posts,  from  posita,  \\\t planks,  the  plates, 
ihc  Jambs,  are  all  Xorman,  and  the  Xorman  man- 
sion is  divided  into  rooms  and  chambers.  The 
chimney  IS  Xorman,  and  so  is  i]\2.  flue.  The  Sax- 
ons apparently  built  di  fireplace,  a  hearth,  and  a  hob, 

"*  ]l'all  is  from  valliiin,  but  is  Latin  of  the  first  period, 
not  Xorman.     Sleeper  is  another  Teutonic  word,  connected 
with  slab.      Sleeper  from  slape — a  smooth  foundation — not 
from  lying  still,  as  if  sleeping. 
1  = 


2  26  ENGLISH    WORDS. 

and  let  the  smoke  escape  from  a  hole  in  the  roof, 
or  a  window  {juind-eye).  All  the  ornamental  and 
architectural  parts  of  a  house  are  Norman,  and  so 
is  any  complicated  construction,  and  so,  of  course, 
are  all  the  parts  of  a  cathedral.  Possibly  some 
of  these  architectural  terms  were  introduced  into 
England  by  foreign  workmen  before  the  Conquest, 
like  /o7acr,  and  a  few  of  the  oldest  words  connect- 
ed with  church  architecture.  On  the  whole,  the 
relations  of  the  races  are  very  strikingly  illus- 
trated in  the  names  of  the  parts  of  a  building. 

There  are  three  words  in  common  use  by  car- 
penters and  woodsmen  in  America,  which  are  no 
doubt  survivals  of  old  words :  In-as/i,  s/uuf,  and 
dozy.  Brash  is  an  adjective  applied  to  wood 
which  is  lacking  in  transverse  strength  and  elastic- 
ity. A  ^' has/i  stick''  differs  from  a  brittle  one 
in  that  it  will  not  spring  or  bend  at  all.  This 
word  is  referred  to  in  Webster  as  being  of  Ar- 
morican  origin.  The  application  of  brash — also 
ver\'  common — to  quick  temper  — giving  away  sud- 
denly and  unexpectedly — is  possibly  secondary. 
Stunt  means  cut  at  an  obtuse  angle  with  the 
grain,  bluntly  sharpened.  It  is  connected  with 
stint,  to  make  short,  but  retains  the  original 
meaning  of  '"  making  dull  " — as  in  "  that  post  is 
too  stunt  to  drive  " — rather  than  of  cutting  off  a 
definite  portion,  as  in  the  expression,  "  a  day's 
stints     Dozy  means  affected  by  a  peculiar  kind 


WORDS    OF    PROFESSIONS   AND    TRADES.       227 

of  rot  which  destroys  the  grain.  If  so  far  gone 
as  to  be  ruined  by  the  dry-rot,  timber  is  said  to 
h^  piaiky,  which  is  from  the  Gaelic  spunky  tinder. 
Djz\  means  in  the  incipient  state  of  dry-rot 
wlren  the  "  Uf e  of  the  timber  is  gone."  It  is 
probably  connected  with  doz}\  sleepy.  Skcat  says 
of  doz}\  meaning  sleepy,  "  cf.  Sanscrit  dhoas,  to 
crumble."  Crumbling  would  almost  exactly  hit 
the  carpenter's  use  of  dozy. 

In  the  names  of  wood-workers'  tools  we  find 
that  the  simpler  and  more  general  tools  have 
English  names,  and  that  those  adapted  for  some 
special  purpose  are  Norman.  The  axe  is  the 
most  important  and  primitive  tool  that  man  uses. 
A  skilful  axeman  can  shape  almost  anything 
from  wood,  as  is  seen  to-day  in  Russia.  The 
axe  is  so  archaic  an  implement  that  its  name  is 
similar  in  all  the  Aryan  languages,  showing  that 
its  use  was  understood  even  before  the  Germanic 
and  Italic  stocks  developed  definitely  different 
languages.  We  retain  the  name  of  the  tool  tliat 
was  used  to  hew  the  timber  for  the  ships  that 
brought  Hengist  and  Horsa  to  Britain,  and  have 
borrowed  from  the  French  only  the  diminutive 
form,  hatchet.,  and  the  verb  to  hatch — />.,  to  mark 
with  cross-lines  —  corresponding  to  our  English 
verb,  to  score,  and  hash.,  anything  chopped  up. 
The  sa7v  is,  of  course,  not  nearly  so  old  a  tool  as 
the  axe,  which  indeed  dates  from  the  Stone  Age, 


2  28  ENGLISH    WORDS. 

but  our  Saxon  ancestors  possessed  it  and  called 
it  a  sagr,  and  we  use  the  same  word.  The  primi- 
ti\-e  operations,  c/iopping,  hnuing,  cutting,  splitting^ 
and  riving  are  all  indicated  by  Saxon  words.  It 
is  worth  noticing  that  in  many  parts  of  the  coun- 
try the  modern  workman  uses  the  word  split  \\\\q.\\ 
he  separates  a  piece  of  irregular  shape,  and  tlie 
word  ri7'c  when  he  separates  a  wide  thin  piece, 
the  taking  special  pains  seeming  to  be  the  dis- 
tinction. Thus  he  splits  wood,  but  he  i-ivcs  a  bolt 
to  make  shingles.  The  word  bolt  in  the  above 
sense  is  no  doubt  equivalent  to  billet.  Dratv- 
s/iave,  grindstone,  ^vhctstonc.  hammer,  satu,  adze, 
and  axe,  are  all  English,  but  plane,  chisel,  gouge, 
mortice,  and  tenon,  are  all  French.  A  carpenter 
to-day  calls  a  small  plane  used  for  cutting  a 
groove  by  the  French  name,  rabot,  or  rabbet ing- 
plane,  from  the  French  raboter,  to  plane.  Adit  re 
is  French,  and  means  properly  to  cut  at  an  angle 
of  forty -five  degrees,  a  word  derived  from  tlic 
bishop's  hat ,  but  the  Saxon  word  searf  means 
to  hew  at  any  sharp  angle  with  an  axe.  Auger 
and  gifnlet  are  English,  as  might  be  expected, 
since  the  simplest  construction  necessitates  bor- 
ing holes.  We  know  that  the  F.nglisli  built  ships, 
of  which  the  framing  and  planking  were  se- 
cured with  pins  called  treenails,  and  with  leathern 
thongs.  The  long  plane  which  is  used  for  mak- 
ing  the    edges    of   boards    straii^ht    is    called    a 


WORDS    OF    PROFESSION'S    AND    TRADES.       229 

jointer,  from  Joindre,  to  unite,  since  the  edges 
when  brought  together  come  in  contact  through- 
out and  can  be  firmly  united  with  ghie.  The 
word  Joint  refers  to  an  inflexible  union,  though 
we  use  it  preferably  for  a  flexible  one,  as  the 
joints  of  the  body. 

The  mixed  vocabulary  of  the  carpenter's  trade 
goes  to  show  that  the  Saxons  were  competent 
wood-workers  before  the  Conquest,  but  that  the 
Xorman  workmen  modified  their  method  by  intro- 
ducing better  tools  and  a  higher  order  of  archi- 
tecture. The  same  may  be  said  of  stone-masons 
and  plasterers,  who  have  preserved  some  singular 
words  like  /laick,*  the  board  on  which  they  carry 
mortar;  darby,  a  board  for  smoothing  the  face  of  a 
wall :  and  putlog  and  ledger  for  parts  of  the  scaffold. 

Cast-iron  was  not  invented  till  the  seventeenth 
century,  but  the  art  of  casting  brass  was  known 
to  the  ancients.  The  technical  name  of  the  pot 
in  which  brass  is  melted  is  crucible.  The  estab- 
lishment for  making  iron  castings  is  a  founder)'. 
Both  of  those  are  French  words,  crucible  being 
probably  of   Celtic    origin    and   connected   with 

*  Tlie  derivation  of  Jiazvlz  and  darby  I  am  iinaljle  to  con- 
jecture. I/aii'k,  to  carry  about,  seems  to  imply  t!ie  idea 
of  oflering  for  sale.  Can  darby  be  connected  with  daub? 
'1  lie  carpenters  pronounce  jointer  jiiitcr.  As  this  is  tlie 
archaic  pronunciation  correctly  lianded  down,  have  we  any 
right  to  ciiange  it  ? 


230  ENGLISH    WORDS. 

crock.  But  many  of  the  words  used  by  men  who 
v.ork  in  a  foundery  are  EngUsh.  They  are  called 
moulders.  The  sand  is  rammed  in  a  flask,  of 
which  the  top  is  called  the  cope  or  nozcl  (one  word 
being  French,  the  other  Saxon)  and  the  bottom 
the  drag.  The  opening  through  which  the  metal 
enters  the  mould  is  called  a  gate,  and  the  metal 
which  hardens  in  the  gate  is  called  a  sprue.  The 
division  in  the  mould  is  called  a  parting,  the  ves- 
sel in  which  the  melted  metal  is  received  from 
the  furnace  is  called  a  hid/e.  The  large  sieve 
used  to  separate  lumps  from  the  sand  is  called  a 
riddle,  a  small  tool  for  smoothing  the  mould  is  a 
slick,  and  the  waste  metal  which  runs  into  the 
parting  is  a  7?//.  The  patterns  are  made  with 
draft  that  they  may  be  readily  drawn  from  the 
sand,  and  a  shrink-rnle  is  used  by  pattern-makers. 
Here  is  a  large  proportion  of  Saxon  words,  all  of 
tljem,  however,  except  sprue,  used  in  secondary 
senses  —  riddle,  for  instance,  is  originally  a  win- 
nowing sieve.  The  art  was  developed  among  an 
English  -  speaking  people  by  practical  men.  not 
by  scientific  men.  Tliese  men  natifrally  took  up 
popular  words,  whereas  the  inventors  of  the  steam- 
engine  used  learned  words.  Had  iron-founding 
developed  from  the  casting  of  brass,  more  of  the 
technical  words  would  liave  been  of  Latin  origin. 
Mad  it  been  an  old  bhigiish  art,  it  would  have 
contained  more  old  En;rlish  words  belonirins:  ex- 


WORDS    OF    PROFESSIONS    AND   TRADES.       23 1 

clusively  to  its  peculiar  operations.     Sprue  seems 
to  be  the  only  special  term. 

The  Saxons  were  seamen,  but  so  were  the 
early  Xormans.  What  are  usually  called  "sailoii- 
man's  words  "  are  almost  exclusively  English  or 
Scandinavian  or  Dutch.  Though  the  first  Xor- 
mans who  settled  in  France  gave  up  their  own 
langurge,  and  the  third  generation  spoke  only 
French,  many  Norse  words  are  found  in  the 
French  nautical  language,  relics  of  the  ancestral 
trade  of  RoUo  and  his  fellows.  It  is  safe  to  as- 
sume, however,  that  the  vocabulary  of  the  Eng- 
lish sailor  v.as  not  recruited  from  the  Norman 
French,  but  is  radically  Anglo-Saxon  or  Danish. 
It  is  very  extensive  and  almost  destitute  of  any 
Latin  element.  The  official  terms  of  the  navy, 
on  the  contrary,  embrace  many  words  of  Ro- 
mance origin.  Captain,  licuienanf,  commodore,  cofti- 
mandant,  ar,d  admiral  are  not  seamen's  words. 
They  would  say,  preferably,  skipper  or  mate  if 
they  had  invented  the  terms.  The  seamen's  vo- 
cabulary is  large,  because  a  ship  is  a  home  to 
them  in  which  they  are  isolated  from  the  world 
for  long  periods,  and  because  they  have  gathered 
words  from  foreign  countries,  like  catamaran  from 
Cq\\ox\,  Jcedge  and  jivrrtV  from  the  Dutch,  and  the 
local  names  of  boats  from  whatever  port  they 
entered.  The  great  body  of  their  speech  is  Eng- 
lish.    To  begin  with,  all   parts  of  the   ship  and 


232  ENGLISH    WORDS. 

rigging — -//////,  low,  7vaisf,  siern,  deck,  mast,  sails, 
shrotids,  ratlines,  halyards,  yards,  sprit,  boom,  jib, 
leech,  bits,  tops,  l^eel,  garboard,  larboard,  starboard, 
scuppers,  rudder,  tiller,  hebn,  cocksK'ain,  gig,  cutter, 
launch,  jolly-boat,  tajfrail,  belaying- pifi,  haiuser, 
fathom,  cabin,  barge  (Celtic),  galley,  mess,  bunk, 
luake,  berth — are  of  Teutonic  origin,  and  a  great 
many  of  them  are  used  only  by  sailors.  If  we 
use  rudder,  or  helm,  for  instance,  in  any  other 
sense  except  as  applied  to  a  boat,  we  use  the 
words  metaphoricall)'.  Their  antiquity  as  sailors' 
words  is  evident  from  this  fact,  and  in  this  they 
differ  from  the  moulders'  words  heretofore  alluded 
to.  Tiie  only  words  of  Latin  origin  and  of  every- 
day use  by  sailors  ^xe.  forecastle,  compass,  capstan, 
cable,  and  binnacle;  for  though  in  realistic  stories  a 
sailor  m.ay  talk  about ''going  on  a  long  vyage," 
a  real  sailor  say^  preferably  a  cruise.  Frojv,  too, 
is  a  literary  word  never  heard  "  on  board  ship." 
A  castle  was"  once  built  on  the  stern  of  war -ships 
and  ^forc  castle  in  the  bow.  with  the  absurd  idea 
of  imitating  a  fort,  and  the  woxiS.  forecastle  is  now 
applied  to  the  quarters  of  the  crew.  Quarters 
has  crept  in,  too,  from  the  Latin  quartarius,  a 
fourth  part,  hence  a  part  set  off  for  any  dctinite 
purpose  ;  but  this  is  originally  a  man-of-v/ar  term. 
A  compass  is  a  scientific  instrument,  and  received  a 
Latin  name,  and  chronometer — a  later  invention — • 
was  siven  a  Greek  name.     The  box  in  which  the 


WORDS    OF    PROFESSIONS    AND    TRADES.       233 

compass  was  kept  was  called  a  binnacle,  from 
the  Latin  habitaculum,  a  little  room.  Gimbals  is 
also  Latin,  and  is  from  gemini,  meaning  the  twin 
rings.  Cable  is  a  French  word,  but  has  never — 
except  for  chains  —  superseded  in  common  use 
the  regular  English  word,  hawser.  Course  is  also 
a  Latin  word  and,  strictly,  means  the  angle  which 
the  vessel's  track  makes  with  the  meridian.  The 
application  of  the  word  courses  to  the  main  sails 
cannot  be  explained.  Davits  is  said  to  be  de- 
rived from  davns,  the  Latin  popular  name  for  a 
slave  (used  something  like  our  word  ^ack),  but 
this  derivation  is  purely  conjectural.  Capstan  is 
French  and  Spanish,  from  a  Greek  root,  and  an 
anchor  was  used  by  the  Romans.  The  Saxons 
drew  their  small  ships  on  the  beach  and  must 
have  used  the  oars  to  keep  off  from  a  lee  shore. 
The  words  connected  with  handling  the  anchor, 
however,  are  English,  as  the  bars,  the.  pawls,  cat- 
heads, to  trip,  or  to  fish.  A  small  anchor,  too,  has 
a  Dutch  name — a  hedge. 

The  boiu  of  a  ship  is  connected  with  the  Saxon 
bog,  the  root  meaning  an  arin,  hence  the  shoulder. 
The  bow  of  a  ship  is  its  shoulder,  and  a  bowline  is 
so  called  because  it  is  fastened  to  the  shoulder  of 
the  sail.  This  word  is  from  the  same  root  as 
bough — an  arm  of  a  tree,  and  is  entirely  distinct 
from  boiv,  the  archer's  vreapon  which  comes  from 
bugen,  to  bend. 


234  ENGLISH    WORDS. 

The  vocabulary  of  English  seamen  is  therefore 
radically  Teutonic.  Its  racy  individual  character 
and  lack  of  formality  testifies  to  its  antiquity  and 
independence  of  foreign  terms,  and  to  the  original 
sufficiency  of  English  for  practical  matters.  Its 
phrases  are  strong  and  expressive,  and  would  be 
absurdly  feeble  if  translated  into  Latin  equiva- 
lents. It  embodies  the  maritime  life  and  seafar- 
ing character  of  a  vigorous,  out-door  race,  and  is 
well  worth  examining  by  any  one  who  wishes  to 
appreciate  the  directness  and  force  of  spoken 
English.*  This  brief  sketch  docs  not  even  out- 
line the  subject. 

Inductions  similar  in  general  character  can  be 
drawn  from  the  vocabulary  of  the  still  older  occu- 
pation, farming.  Genuine  farmers'  words  are  of 
the  Teutonic  stock.  ]\Iany  of  them  belong  to  the 
class  of  words  evidently  related  in  all  the  Aryan 
tongues,  and  were  used  in  the  remote  past,  when 
the  Proto-Aryans,  the  parent  stock  of  Celt,  Greek, 
Latin,  and  Teuton,  spoke  the  same  language  and 
formed  one  tribe.  Such  are  tlic  names  of  the 
domestic  animals,  and  of  the  old  implements  and 
operations.     Ilorse^     marc,    co7i\    hull,    ram,   c'iCC, 

*  An  admirable  Chaucerian  word,  roU\  is  preserved  by 
American  sailors.  It  means  the  confused  sound  of  the  sea 
breakint;  on  a  beach,  lieard  at  a  distance,  and  seems  now 
to  be  especially  applicable  to  the  sound  heard  inland.  It 
can  liardlv  be  connected  witli  rear. 


WORDS    OF    PROFESSIONS    AND    TRADES.       235 

plough^  sickle^  thresh,  milk,  are  radical  words. 
Even  the  parts  of  the  modern  plough,  the  land- 
side,  the  mould-board,  the  hea7n,  the  share,  are  old 
English.  The  clevis  and  the  coulter  are  Latin  at- 
tachments. A  farmer  to-day  never  calls  himself 
an  agriculturist.  He  speaks  of  the  plough's  tail, 
an  expression  which  is  a  survival  from  the  time 
v^'hen  the  plough  had  but  one  handle,  and  is 
strictly  plough-stall.  A  stall  is  a  handle,  a  word 
allied  to  the  root  of  still,  a  stall  being  that  by 
which  the  implement  is  held  firm.  The  root  ap- 
pears also  in  the  word  headstall,  that  by  which  a 
horse  is  held  comparatively  still.  His  stall  in 
which  he  stands  is  another  English  word,  from  a 
different  English  root,  but  allied  to  the  first  and 
to  the  Latin  sto  through  common  relationship  to 
the  original  root,  STA.  This  word  stall  in  the 
sense  of  handle  is  also  used  by  farmers  when 
they  say  ^' stale  of  a  pitchfork."'  The  word  flail 
is  given  as  from  the  \^'sX\Xi,  Jlagellum.  If  this  be 
true  the  Saxons  must  have  threshed  their  grain 
in  sonie  different  way — by  the  feet  of  oxen,  like 
the  Hebrews,  for  instance.  At  all  events,  there 
is  no  stain  on  the  lineage  of  thresh.  The  name 
for  tlie  two  parts  of  the  flail — the  swingle  and  the 
staff-^^xQ.  unmistakably  Saxon. 

The  names  of  the  grains,  barley,  corn,  wluat ; 
of  the  trees,  oak,  beech,  apple,  are  also  old.  Some 
weeds  and  roots  bear  testimony  in  their  names  to 


236  ENGLISH    WORDS. 

the  country  from  which  they  were  introduced, 
Uke  l>cet,carroi,  inniip,  radis/i,  fotafo,  znd  pii?npkiti, 
and  show  that  the  Anglo-Saxons  never  lived  in 
a  country  where  these  were  indigenous.  In  the 
names  of  the  products  of  the  soil  a  great  deal  of 
archaic  history  is  embodied.  The  primitive  oper- 
ations are  denoted  by  primitive  words,  or  per- 
haps we  should  say  that  the  use  of  a  primitive 
name  proves  the  things  or  operations  so  designated 
to  be  ancient.  The  soil  of  England  has  never  been 
cultivated  by  men  who  spoke  French,  and  so  the 
rural  dialect  abounds  in  good,  old  Saxon  words. 
]\Iany  survivals  of  the  old  stock  of  words  can  be 
found  in  Xew  England,  some  of  which  have  been 
lost  in  England.  ^Modern  inventions  have  so  mod- 
ified farming  v/ork  that  many  of  the  old  terms  are 
passing  out  of  use.  This  is  notably  the  case  with 
words  used  in  the  household  industries  of  spin- 
ning and  weaving,  as  practised  fifty  years  ago. 

i\Iany  handicraft  words  are  of  obscure  origin, 
since  they  have  but  rarely  been  printed,  and  their 
pronunciation  lias  become  so  modified  from  the 
primitive  sounds  that  it  is  sometimes  very  dithcult 
to  conjecture  the  original  derivation  or  connec- 
tion. The  technical  language  of  the  professions, 
on  the  other  hand,  was  early  committed  to  writing 
in  many  documents.  All  pleadings  in  law  were 
written  in  Xorman-h'rcnch  for  a  century  after  the 
Conquest,  and  even  after  the  issue  was  made  and 


WORDS    OF    PROFESSIONS    AND    TRADES.       237 

the  trial  conducted  in  the  new  English,  the  judg- 
ment was  entered  in  Latin.  Law  terms  are, 
therefore,  universally  Latin,  though  the  common 
law  is  an  evolution  of  the  English  nation.  Law 
terms  of  Latin  origin,  though  they  are  not  so 
barbarous  as  medical  terms,  have  little  force  or 
simplicity,  except  the  short  ones,  like  deed,  judge, 
arrest,  jury,  court,  suit,  ivrit,  ivarrant,  viorfgage,  and 
su7nvio;is,  which  have  become  fully  naturalized. 
Such  words  as  replevin,  quo  warranto,  affidavit, 
demurrer,  certiorari,  re', utter,  garnishee,  mandamus, 
cestui  que  trust,  feme -covert,  and  their  congeners, 
which  make  up  nine-tenths  of  the  legal  dialect, 
betray  their  foreign  origin  too  freely  to  allow 
their  admission  into  the  society  of  the  old  Eng- 
lish words  which  we  recognize  as  part  of  our 
mother-tongue.  The  artificial  character  of  these 
words  has,  no  doubt,  contributed  to  the  artificial 
and  remote  character  of  the  science  of  the  law, 
which,  at  least  in  an  old  work  on  pleading,  seems 
to  be  concerned  with  a  verbal  system,  and  not  to 
refer  to  real  things.  It  is  worth  noticing  that  the 
officer  with  whom  Englishmen  come  most  in  con- 
tact retained  his  Saxon  title — sheriff,  or  shire-reeve. 
This  retention  of  the  English  word  for  the  legal 
executive  is  somewhat  analogous  to  the  assump- 
tion by  the  Duke  of  Normandy  of  the  title, 
"King  of  England,"  instead  of  the  French  style, 
"  m,"  or  "  suzerain.''' 


238  ENGLISH    WORDS. 

The  class  which  may  be  designated  as  Cliurch 
words,  or  the  ecclesiastical  terminology,  is  also 
exclusively  classic — Latin  or  Greek — in  origin, 
with  the  exception  of  the  Saxon  derivatives,  liko 
righteousness,  goodness,  kindness,  brotlierly  love,  sin, 
wickedness,  selfishness,  vicekness,  and  a  few  others, 
which  express  the  underlying  elements  of  human 
character  as  opposed  to  formal  theological  con- 
ceptions like  piety,  devotion,  regeneration,  repentance, 
faith,  and  a  host  of  other  terms  of  Latin  origin. 
This  is  as  might  be  expected.  The  Church  of 
Western  Europe  was  originally  a  Latin  Church. 
Its  sacred  books  were  in  Latin  or  Greek.  Its 
volumes  of  ecclesiastical  law  v/ere  in  Latin. 
Words  that  refer  to  the  organization  are,  of 
course,  Latin,  as  are  also  words  that  belong  to 
party  differences  in  the  Church.  At  the  same 
time  religion  deals  with  the  ultimate  facts  of 
human  nature,  and  in  the  most  corrupt  periods 
there  were  to  be  found  in  the  Church  some  ear- 
nest priests  whose  hearts  yearned  towards  their 
fellow- men;  v/lio,  like  their  ^Master,  "had  com- 
passion on  the  multitude,"  and  wished  so  to 
speak  that  they — in  good  old  phrase — "  might  be 
understanded  of  the  people."  Chaucer's  "  poor 
parson  "  spoke  Pjiglish,  though  he  is  rather  Lat- 
inized in  his  story  of  Meliba-us,  as  ILirry  JJailey 
notices.  We  owe  much  to  \\'yclitfe,  Tyndale, 
Coverdale,  and  the  seventeenth  century  revisers. 


WORDS    OF    PROFESSIONS    AND    TRADES.       239 

that  they  translated  the  Bible  into  our  mother- 
tongue,  and  not  into  Latinized  English,  and 
thereby  gave  their  words  a  unique  and  radical 
power.  The  watchwords  of  the  human  systems 
over  which  men  argue  and  fight,  under  the  influ- 
ence of  that  peculiarly  Latin  mental  condition — 
" odiuffi  ikcologician'^ — pass  away  and  possess 
only  a  historical  interest  after  a  century  or  two. 
They  are  invariably  Latin  watchwords.  The 
word  atonement — at-one-ment  —  with  its  Saxon 
base  and  Latin  suffix,  is  almost  the  only  one  of 
the  theologic  war-cries  that  is  an  exception  to 
this  rule,  but  this  word  embodies  a  corjcept  as 
deep  and  abiding  as  that  expressed  by  its  correla- 
tive, sin,  and  is  a  word  of  an  entirely  dift"crent 
class  from  such  strictly  doctrinal  v.'ords  as  tran- 
siibstantiation,predcsti?iation,  election,  eschatology,  etc. 

The  relations  of  the  Classic  and  Saxon  deriva- 
tives in  theological  nomenclature  open  too  broad 
a  field  to  be  gone  into  at  present,  but  it  is  worth 
while  to  consider  the  different  effects  of  such 
phrases  as  ^' an  offended  Deity"  and  ^' an  angry 
Godr 

Just  as  chemistry  retains  some  words  which 
date  back  to  the  mediaeval  quackeries,  alchemy 
and  magic,  and  as  astronomy  retains  some  of 
the  words  once  peculiar  to  the  pseudo- science, 
astrology,  so  medicine  shows  traces  of  the  ter- 
minology of  the  '"learned  leeches''  of  the  Mid- 


240  ENGLISH    WORDS. 

die  Ages.  All  medical  books  were  then  in  Latin, 
and  the  mediaeval  names  were  kept  in  use  even 
after  Latin  was  discarded.  They  became  a  sort 
of  professional  shibboleth  which  gave  mystery 
and  dignity  to  simple  matters.  Even  now  the 
names  of  drugs  are  translated,  and  dandelion  is 
mentioned  as  faraxicum,  ■xnd  foxglove  as  digitalis. 
For  scientific  classification  ^special  names  are 
necessary,  and  Latin  still  offers  the  most  con- 
venient storehouse  of  words  which  have  the  same 
meaning  in  all  countries.  The  doctors  have  an 
hereditary  fondness  for  '•  words  of  learned  length 
and  thimdering  sound."  and  will  hardly  conde- 
scend to  speak  of  the  backbone  or  the  skull. 
Like  cooks,  they  are  fond  of  giving  foreign  names 
to  mysterious  compounds.  But  the  great  object 
of  their  efforts — health — and  the  important  events 
over  which  they  preside — -childbirth  and  death, 
which,  indeed,  concern  the  patient  more  than  the 
physician — -remain  radically  Saxon.  The  vocab- 
ulary peculiar  to  the  profession  testifies  to  the 
cosmopolitan  nature  of  diseases  and  remedies. 
The  world  has  been  searched  for  the  latter,  and 
the  former  are  common  to  men  of  all  nations. 
Possibly  it  may  testify  to  the  fact  that  the  wealthy 
Normans  were  more  frequently  the  objects  of  the 
doctor's  care  than  were  the  humbler  Saxons.  We 
have  dropped  the  expressive  Saxon  w)-ith — con- 
nected with  7vrithe — and  have  retained  the  French 


WORDS    OF    PROFESSIONS    AND    TRADES.       24 1 

equivalent,  fever.  Traces  of  the  old  medical 
notions  can  be  discovered  in  medical  words. 
Cholera,  for  instance,  is  derived  through  Latin 
from  the  Greek  word  meaning  bile.  Gangrene., 
from  the  same  source,  means  something  which 
gnaws.  The  fact  that  the  Latins  drew  their 
notions  of  medical  science  from  the  Greeks  is 
shown  by  the  number  of  Greek  -  Latin  and  Greek 
derivatives  in  use  among  doctors.  Of  these  are  : 
antiseptic,  asthma,  artery,  bronchitis,  cranium,  oesoph- 
agus, epidermis,  larynx,  spleen,  pleurisy,  pore,  rheiun, 
surgeon.  \\q  very  early  dropped  the  Saxon  word 
leech  in  fa\'or  of  the  Latin  doctor,  or  the  Latin- 
Greek  physician. 

The  vocabulary  of  mines  is  a  curious  jumble 
of  archaic  words — Celtic  and  Saron — and  mod- 
ern scientific  engineering  terms.  A  classification 
of  miners'  words  would  prove  very  interesting 
and  instructive. 

That  events  could  be  foretold  by  an  expert  ex- 
amination of  the  stars  was  a  very  general  belief 
from  the  earliest  time.  In  the  Middle  Ages  the 
practice  was  reduced  to  rules,  and  gave  rise  to  a 
precise  technical  vocabulary,  which  has  left  some 
curious  traces  in  our  language.  We  still  use  the 
words  horoscope  and  ill-  stanrd  w'lih  a  conscious- 
ness of  their  metaphorical  force.  But  considera- 
tion, disaster,  aspect,  conternplate,  and  influence  are 
habitually  spoken  without  any  thought  of  their 
16 


242  ENGLISH    WORDS. 

origin.  They  are  all  astrological  words,  and,  nat- 
urally, are  of  Greek  or  Latin  derivation.  Con- 
sider is  consiilemre,  to  consult  the  stars.  Dis- 
aster is  an  unpropitious  position  of  a  star.  The 
sky  was  divided  into  temples  or  houses, _and  to 
contemplate  was  to  examine  what  planets  occu- 
pied the  different  temples  at  a  given  time.  Influ- 
ence is  the  occult  power  supposed  to  floiu  in  from 
the  moon  or  planets.  Aspect  meant  the  general  re- 
lation of  the  planets  and  their  distances  from  each 
other.  Two  planets  could  assume  nine  ''"aspects " — - 
five  good  aspects  and  four  bad  ones — with  which 
they  looked  on  the  earth  —  a  slight  fraction  in 
favor  of  optimistic  views.  The  planet  which  rose 
above  the  horizon  at  tlie  hour  of  birth  was  said 
to  be  in  the  ascendant,  and  was  supposed  to  exert 
a  peculiar  influence  on  the  future  life.  Conjunc- 
tion signifies  ihat  two  planets  were  in  the  same 
temple,  and  v.'c  still  use  conjunction  not  only  to 
mean  a  bond,  but  for  two  events  happening 
about  the  same  time.  Contemplate  dates  back  to 
Roman  astrology,  or  even  to  Greek,  since  tenplnm 
is  from  Tef.i)io,  to  cut,  and  is  based  on  the  idea  of 
a  place  set  apart  or  cufe  off.  Auspicious,  ares- 
spectare,  is  from  the  Roman  art  of  divination. 

It  is  possible  that  some  of  these  words,  as 
aspect  and  contemplate,  might  have  come  into  the 
language,  even  had  they  not  formed  a  part  of  the 
vocabularv  of  mediajval  astrologv,  but  it  is  evident 


WORDS    OF    PROFESSIONS    AND    TRADES.       243 

that  their  character  has  been  affected  by  that 
use.  The  force  of  a  word  is  affected  by  all  its 
associations,  and  a  knowledge  of  them  enables 
us  to  appreciate  precise  and  delicate  uses  of  the 
word. 

From  the  groups  of  folk-words,  especially  from 
the  maritime  and  agricultural  groups,  the  liter- 
ary language  is  recruited.  They  are  the  living 
and  vigorous  roots-T>f  national  speech,  and  prun- 
ing the  upper  growth  without  allowing  the  vital 
sap  to  circulate  is  futile  ;  fortunately  so,  for  if  it 
were  not,  it  would  be  criminal.  The  superiority 
of  the  words  of  the  working  trades  over  the  words 
of  the  learned  professions,  in  directness,  force, 
and  power  of  vividly  presenting  the  thing  signi- 
fied, proves  that  a  language,  to  possess  any  of 
these  qualities,  must  be  a  growth,  and  not  a 
'•  manufactured  article." 


ADDITIONAL  WORDS    FOR  ILLUSTRATION. 

Find  the  meaning  of  the  word  in  the  language 
from  which  it  was  taken  into  our  modern  Eng- 
lish. Show  the  cqnnection  between  the  original 
meanino;  and  the  modern  meaning:.  L^se  a  mod- 
ern  dictionary. 


Abbot. 

Alms. 

Abominate. 

Ambergris. 

Accord. 

Ambidextrous. 

Accost. 

Amorphous. 

Acid. 

Appal. 

Acorn. 

Appraise. 

Acquit. 

Apprise. 

Acute. 

Apron. 

Adequate. 

Arch. 

Adroit. 

Ark. 

Affidavit. 

Arm. 

Agate. 

Attic. 

Alarm. 

Auction. 

Alligator. 

Aureole. 

Allow. 

Ballad. 

Allv. 

Ballet. 

ADDITIONAL    WORDS    FOR    ILLUSTRATION.    245 


Ballot. 

Ban. 

Battledoor. 

Battlement. 

Between. 

Bitter-end. 

Blaze. 

Blindfold. 

Blunderbuss. 

Bondsman. 

Bower. 

Brattice. 

Buttress. 

Buxom. 

Calculate. 

Cancel. 

Cant. 

Capitulate. 

Caprice. 

Cardinal. 

Carnival. 

Casemate. 

Cat's-cradle. 

Causeway. 

Centering. 

Chancellor. 

Chaperon. 

Chatter. 

Chivalry. 


Clever. 

Collaborator. 

Colonel. 

Combat. 

Commence. 

Comparison. 

Craven. 

Cutter. 

Dad. 

Dainty. 

Damsel. 

Date. 

Debut. 

Demure. 

Deuce. 

Dextrous. 

Diamond. 

Direct. 

Ditty. 

Dry  (tedious). 

Eagle. 

Ear. 

f^cstasy. 

Elixir. 

Ember-days. 

Envelop. 

Etch. 

Expectorate. 

Fanatic. 


»46 


ENGLISH    WORDS. 


Fare. 

Kindle. 

February. 

Faconic. 

Fend. 

Lasso. 

Ferry. 

Lawn. 

Fit. 

Left. 

Founder. 

Lieutenant. 

P'riday. 

Limb  (of  the  Sun), 

Fritter. 

Linstock. 

Frontispiece. 

Listless. 

Gantlet. 

Loathsome. 

Gingerly. 

Manoeuvre. 

Goggle-eyed. 

Map. 

Guinea. 

March. 

Gutta-percha. 

Martyr. 

Halyard. 

Maundy-Thursday 

Hammer-cloth. 

^letre. ^ 

Hanger. 

^lildew. 

Hematite. 

^loh. 

Hollyhock. 

Mosaic. 

Humble-pie 

ISIuse  (vb). 

Husband. 

Napkin. 

Infantry. 

Nation. 

Instep. 

Nightmare. 

January. 

Normal. 

Jerked  beef. 

Observe. 

Jet. 

Obstinate. 

Jot. 

Old  Nick. 

Kernel. 

Onion. 

Kickshaw. 

Oriole. 

ADDITIONAL    WORDS    FOR    ILLUSTRATION.    247 


Pale. 

Palette. 

Pallid. 

Parboil.* 

Parson. 

Patent. 

Pathos. 

Patient. 

Pea-jacket. 

Pedant. 

Peer. 

Pendulum. 

Pew. 

I'lumb. 

Pope. 

Posy. 

Press-gang. 

Prophesy. 

Provender. 

Pulley. 

Punch  (vb). 

Purblind. 

Puree  (a  soup). 

Purloin. 

Pusillanimous. 

Pyramid. 

Queen  (in  chess). 

(2uit. 

Rant. 


Recount. 

Reindeer. 

Remark. 

Restive. 

Rook  ( in  chess). 

Rote. 

PvOUt. 

Route. 

Rut. 

Sarcophagus. 

Seminar}-. 

Sentry. 

Sinister. 

Skeleton. 

Smoke  (to  find  out). 

Soldier. 

Soprano. 

Steelyard. 

String  (of  Jiorses). 

Supplant. 

Tangle  ('sea-v/eed). 

Tantaliz.,'. 

Termagant. 

Testament. 

Thursday. 

Thwarts. 

Tontine. 

Touchy. 

Train-oil. 


ENGLISH    WORDS. 


'I'raitor. 

Tribulation. 

Trick  (at  cards). 

Trigger. 

Tuesday. 

Tureen. 

Uncouth. 

Vermilion. 

Vinegar. 

Volume. 

Walnut. 


Wardrobe. 

Wednesday. 

Welcome. 

Welsh-ral5bit. 

Whiskey. 

Wiseacre. 

Worsted. 

Wound  (a  horn). 

Yankee. 

Zero. 

Zodiac. 


INDEX  OF  SUBJECTS. 


Anglo-Saxon  terminations, 

73. 
"  Ar,"  tlie  root,  iSi. 
Arnold,  Malthe\\-,  quotation, 

S3. 
Ar^-an  stock,  13. 
Aryans,  home  of,  13. 

• languages  of,  31. 

Astrologers'  words,  241. 

Bernf.rs,  Tuliana,  quotation, 
66. 

Bible,  translations  of,  60-S3. 

Blacksmiths'  words,  217. 

]]ook  of  St.  Albans,  65. 

liranching  of  words,  129. 

I'ritain  abandoned  by  Ro- 
mans, 37. 

invaded   by    Saxons, 

Browning,  quotation,  144. 
Brugmann's  classification,  20. 
Builders'  words,  224. 

Chance  from  Anglo-Saxon 

to  English,  43. 
Chivalry,  language  of,  63. 
Collect,  quotation  from,  91. 
Colloquial  luiglish,  47. 


Composite  character  of  Eng- 
lish, 91. 

Concrete  images  in  language, 
119. 

Cntn\  quotation  from,  150. 

Danish  invasion,  40. 
Dialectic  English,  48. 
Dialects,  40. 
Doctors'  words,  239. 
Double  names,  iSo. 
Double  rhymes,  85. 

Earlc  s  Philology,  quotation, 

25- 

Ecclesiastical  words,  23S. 

Effect  of  material  surround- 
ings, 123. 

Emerson,  quotation  from,  94. 

English,  changes  in,  37-49. 

kinds  of,  47. 

Latin  element  in,  56. 

Norse  element  in,  9S. 

number  of  words  in,  g2. 

rhythm  of,  44. 

■  sources  of,  36. 

Erroneous  derivations,  140. 

Etymologies  promote  good 
use,  92. 


250 


INDEX    OF    SUBJECTS. 


Euphemism,  i66. 
Euphuism,  6S. 

Farmers'  words,  234. 
Founders'  words,  22g. 
Fourteenth  century  poem,  42. 
Fuller,  Dr.  Thos.,  quotation, 
140. 

Grimm's  Law,  25-2S. 

Hale,    Horatio,    quotation, 

33-. 
Hunting,  language  of,  64. 
Hybrid  words,  93. 

Imitative  words,  123. 
Invasion  of  Britain,  37. 
Ivan  hoc,  quotation,  70. 

Kinds  of  English,  47. 
Kitchen  words,  52. 

Language,  Albanian,  20. 
a    mark    of    humanity, 

1-3- 

Anglo-Saxon,  19. 

Armenian,  20. 

branches  of  study  of,  g. 

Celtic,  16-55. 

classification  of,  13. 

connection  with  thought, 

4-  . 

Cornish,  16. 

•  Cymric,  16. 

I  )utch,  19. 

Friesic,  19. 

(iallic,  20. 

( lerman,  i3. 

(lothic,  iS. 

1  lellenic,  16. 

High  Ccrman,  iS. 

how  far  an  evolution,  7. 


Language,  Indian  branch  of, 
15. 

Indo-European,  13. 

Iranian,  15. 

Italic,  17. 

Low  German,  19. 

Netherlandish,  19. 

Xorse,  i3. 

OKI  English,  19. 

origin  of,  113. 

riatt-Deutsch,  19. 

■  Romance,  group  of,  17. 

■  Slavonic,  16. 

Teutonic,  l3. 

Welsh,  16. 

Latin  element  in  English,  56. 
Law  words,  237. 
Literary  English,  47. 
London  slang,  53. 

Max     MCi.ler,     quotation, 

31-47,  92. 
Miners'  words,  241. 
Modern  scientific  words,  126. 
Monosyllables,  French,  Si. 
Morte  if  Arthur,  65. 

Names,   corrupted    from 
French,  173. 

double  ethnic,  17S-130. 

■ European  place,  175. 

history  in,  170. 

Indian,  171. 

modified  in  sound,  173. 

New     England     jilace, 

175. 

North  American,  172. 

■ of  birds.  122. 

of    Connecticut    towns, 

175- 
■ of  rivers,  1S4. 

Snutliern  place,  176, 


Snanisli,  r 


-174. 


INDEX    OF    SUBJECTS. 


251 


Nicknames,  204. 
Norman  conquest,  61. 

invasion,  41. 

Norse  element  in  English,  gS. 
Number  of  words  in  English, 

Q2. 

OxoMATora:iA,  124. 
Origin  of  language,  113. 

Pairs  of  words,  73-76. 

Periods  of  Latin  introduc- 
tion, 57. 

Poetic  quality  of  words,  SS. 

Poetry  in  words,  11 3. 

Printers'  words,  221. 

Pronunciation  (note),  30. 

Proportion  of  Latin,  io3. 

Public,  or  ordinary  English, 
47- 

Rhymes,  S4. 
Root  "  ar,"  iSi. 

Sailors'  words,  231. 

Sanskrit,  32. 

Set,  1S3. 

Shakspeare,     quotation,    89, 

90,  144. 
Shoemakers'  words,  222. 
Sir  Tristram,  65. 
Sietifs  Dictionary,  92. 
Slang,  50-53- 
Spelling,  29-155. 
St.  Albans,  Book  of,  65. 
Steam-engine,  220. 
Suffixes,  97. 
Surnames     from    personal 

traits,  210. 

increase  of,  212. 

local,  205. 


Surnames,  occupative,  2o3. 

percentage,  212. 

total  number  of,  213. 

Synonyms,  74. 

Words,  Arabic,  102. 

branching  of,  129. 

builders',  ^^24. 

Celtic,  46-51. 

changes     in     meaning, 

15S. 
character  of  Romance, 

87. 

Dutch,  106. 

expressing  mental  states, 

120. 
founded  on  metaphors, 

115- 
Greek,  107. 

Hebrew,  105. 

hunting,  66. 

hybrid,  93. 

imitative,  123. 

kitchen,  52. 

Latin,  56. 

modern  scientific,  126. 

Norman-Erench,  72. 

Norse,  9S. 

of  astrology,  241. 

of  the  trades,  222. 

pairs  of,  77. 

per  cent,  of  Latin,  108. 

poetry  in,  11 3. 

printers',  221. 

professional,  237. 

record    changes     of 

thought,  i6g. 

rhythm  of  English,  44. 

sailors',  231. 

society,  66. 

value  of  study  of,  5. 


INDEX   OF  WORDS  AND    EXPRESSIONS 
EXPLAINED. 


Abominable,  141. 
Acorn,  152.  .. 
Admiral,  104. 
Adventurer,  166. 
Affront,  161. 
Agere,  137. 
Alchemy,  103. 
Alcohol,  103. 
Alembic,  103. 
Algebra,  103. 
Alkali,  103. 
Allow,  165. 
Alms,  5g. 
Amazement,  165. 
Amazon,  141. 
Ambition,  160. 
Ampersand,  166. 
Andiron,  152. 
Anse  de  Cousins,  149. 
Antic,  160. 
Apace,  152. 
Apostle,  5g. 
Ascendant,  242. 
Aspect,  242. 
Atonement,  239. 
Attention,  119. 
Auspicious,  242. 
Average,  163. 
Aye,  99. 

IjAggage,  51. 
Bale  de  Lievre,  173. 
Bale  des  Espoirs,  173. 
Bailey,  59. 
Barker,  2og. 
Beak,  53. 
Beatan,  13S. 


Beefsteak,  133. 
Belfry,  164. 
Belierophon,  147. 
Beorgan,  138. 
Binnacle,  233. 
Bishop,  59. 
Blawan,  138. 
Boblo,  173. 
Bois  Blanc,  173. 
Bottom,  206. 
Bound,  99. 
Bow,  233. 
Bowline,  233. 
Brace,  64. 
Brash,  226. 
Brick,  53. 
Brown  Willy,  149. 
Brynen,  13S. 
Bud,  119. 
r)unker,  210. 
Burne,  206. 
Business,  167, 
Butler,  208. 
Bye,  101. 

Calc,  59. 
Calipers,  168. 
Candidate,  160. 
Canter,  168. 
Carmine,  73. 
Carpenter,  51. 
Castra,  57. 
Ceapian,  138. 
Cester,  57. 
"  Cheese  it,"  53. 
Chester,  58. 
Cholera,  241. 


WORDS    AND    EXPRESSIONS    EXPLAINED.      253 


Church,  60. 
Cinder,  218. 
Cipher,  104. 
Clerc,  59. 
Clough,  206. 
Cobb,  206. 
Cobbler,  222. 
Cock,  153. 
Colonia,  58. 
Combe,  205. 
Compassion,  120. 
Compliment,  140. 
Comprehension,  120. 
Conception,  119. 
Condign,  152. 
Conjunction,  242 
Consider,  242. 
Contemi)late,  242. 
Courage,  120. 
Course,  233. 
Court-cards,  147. 
Crank,  128. 
Crayfish,  147. 
Credo,  137. 
Crimson,  73. 
Crouch,  206. 
Crucible,  229. 
Cunning  garth,  147. 
Curmudgeon,  143, 

Daisy,  118. 
Dandelion,  147, 
Davits,  233. 
Dead  Man,  149. 
Defy,  137. 
Den,  205. 
Depart,  165. 
Devil,  147. 
Dico,  137. 
Dila])idated,  11. 
Dirge,  164. 
Disaster,  242. 
Do,  136. 


Dog-cheap,  153. 
Dozy,  226. 
Drunk,  167. 
Duco,  136. 

Equipage,  143. 
Ey,  206. 

P'ASf,  99. 
Fiery,  123. 
Hord,  loi. 
Fitful  Head,  147. 
Flag,  99. 
Flail,  235. 
Ford,  206. 
Forecastle,  232, 
Fork,  72. 
Frank,  158. 
Free,  159. 
Freemantlc,  210. 
Frontispiece,  137. 

Gal,  179. 
Gambler,  166. 
Gangrene,  241. 
Geranium,  118. 
Ghost,  116. 
Gibraltar,  104. 
Gimbals,  233. 
God,  147. 
Groeci,  181. 
Grammercy  Park,  14B. 

Haberdasher,  147. 
Iladlyme,  175. 
Ilagenes,  150. 
Hale,  99. 
Ham,  207. 
Hangnail,  148. 
Harwinton,  175. 
Hash,  227. 
Hatch,  227. 
Hate,  120. 


254       WORDS    AND    EXPRESSIONS    EXPLAINED. 


Hayward,  209. 
Hessians,  14S. 
Himalaya,  118. 
Hirondelle,  147. 
Holt,  206. 
"  Hook  it,"  53. 
Howard,  209. 
Humanities,  160. 

Ibrahim  Pasha,  147. 
Idea,  120. 
Incentive,  149. 
Influence,  242. 
Ink,  221. 
Insult,  161. 

Jerusalem,  14S. 
Jointer,  228. 

"  Kick  tlie  bucket,"  53. 
Kidder,  20S. 
King,  147. 

Last,  223. 

Latimer,  208. 

Lea,  205. 

Leash,  65. 

Legend,  145. 

Le  Tour  Sans  \'enin,  14S. 

Loony,  122. 

Lunacv,  122. 

Ly,  206. 

Lynch,  206. 

R[agi>eiu"K(;,  149. 
Maidenliead,  149. 
Maidstone,  149. 
Mallow,  ii3. 
Mariposa,  142. 
Marquis,  69. 
Marshall,  69. 
Masher,  53. 
Maul-stick,  147. 


Memory,  121. 
Modest,  120. 
Much,  143. 

Nasturtium,  119. 
Nice,  162. 
Noble,  69. 
Nott,  210. 

Old  Man,  149. 

Palmer,  209. 
Panther,  144. 
Passion,  120. 
Peel,  210. 

Phantomnation,  150. 
Picketwire,  173. 
Pie,  142. 

Pigeon  I'jiglish,  167. 
Pilatus,  Mount,  145. 
I'ilgrini,  209. 
Pink,  I  iS. 
Plaid,  52. 
Plough's  tail,  235. 
Policy,  163. 
Pomfret,  174. 
Porter,  209. 
Pose,  131. 
Post,  131. 
Posthumous,  164. 
Prairie,  Dippertree,  173 
Precipitate,  10. 
Preface,  137. 
Presbyter,  59. 
Priest,  59. 

Quad,  221. 
{,)nadrangle,  131. 
Ouadrille,  13  I. 
(Quadroon,  131. 
(^)uadruped,  131. 
(^)uaint,  162. 
(Jiuarry,  64,  131. 


WORDS    AND    EXPRESSIONS    EXPLAINED.       255 


Quart,  131. 
Quarters,  232. 
Quarto,  131. 

Ren'contre,  173. 
Rive,  22S. 
Romance,  160. 
Rosemary,  118. 
Ross,  206. 
Russell,  210. 

Sacksmith,  2o3. 
Sale,  2)6. 
Salt-cellar,  143. 
Score,  T35. 
Scuddcr,  208. 
Scutch;;on,  63. 
Shaw,  2(J5. 
Shear,  135. 
Sheriff,  237. 
Shirt,  135. 
Shuttle-cock,  147. 
Sirloii>,  152. 
Skilagalec,  173. 
Slag,  218. 
Slang,  127. 
Slug-horn,  144.      • 
Smith,  217. 
Soo,  173. 

Sparrow-grass,  14; 
Spend, 165. 
Spirit,  116. 
Splay,  165. 
Sport,  165. 
S<iuaiLl,  131. 
Squadron,  131. 
Stack,  133. 
Stake,  1^3. 
Stall,  235. 
Stam\\ick,  175. 
Stick,  132. 
Stock,  133. 
Stoker,  133. 


Stone-blind,  143. 
St.  Oreste,  150. 
Strata,  58. 
Stratfield,  175. 
Street,  58. 
Stunt,  226. 
Surly,  152. 
Surround,  i6t. 
Sutherland,  11 3. 
Swell,  128. 
Sykes,  206. 
Sympathy,  120. 

Talents,  121. 
Tango,  136. 
Tap,  224. 
Tarpaulin,  162. 
Tartars,  140,  148. 
Temper,  121. 
Temperature,  121. 
Think,  121. 
Thorp,  205. 
Tick,  132. 
Ticket,  132. 
Ton,  207. 
Trivial,  161. 
'i'"'S-  53- 

Upstart,  151. 

Vallum,  58. 
Venison,  64. 
Weal,  ^3. 
Welch,  53. 
Welcher,  179. 
Whole,  99. 
Wintonhury,  175. 
Wormwood,  154. 
Writh,  240. 
Writhe,  240. 
Wylen,  53. 

Zero,  104. 


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